The Competition Commission of India has approved Aditya Birla Group’s acquisition of 27.5 per cent stake in Living Media India Ltd by IGH, an investment company of Aditya Birla Group.
IGH signed a share purchase agreement on May 18 with Living Media India Ltd, a holding company of India Today Group.
India Today Group and Aditya Birla Group were engaged in the organised retail business.
Retail presence
While India Today has both physical stores and online non-store retail presence through Media Mart and Bagittoday.com, Aditya Birla Group is present in physical store retail segment through More stores.
CCI said the proposed combination will not give rise to competition as category of the product sold and total value thereof is less compared to the dynamics of the retail sector.
The proposed transaction involves an initial acquisition of 24.9 per cent stake in Living Media India by IGH and an additional purchase of 2.6 per cent stake, resulting into a total purchase of 27.5 per cent equity.
The companies said in their applications to CCI that the said purchase of shares of Living Media by IGH may go up to a maximum of 49 per cent, and the proposed acquisitions and valuation adjustments should be completed within six months from the end of the financial year 2015-16.