Tata Sons Seeks CCI Nod To Acquire Another 10% Stake In Tata Play

Tata Sons has reportedly sought approval from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for acquiring another 10% stake in DTH operator Tata Play from Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings.

As per NDTV, citing a notice filed with the CCI earlier this week, “The proposed transaction relates to Tata Sons’ acquisition of 10% shareholding in Tata Play from Baytree Investments (Mauritius) Pte Ltd.”

Inc42 has reached out to Tata Sons for comments on the development. The story will be updated based on the response.

To note, Baytree Investments (Mauritius) is a unit of Temasek Holdings.

Currently, Tata Sons owns 70% stake in Tata Play after acquiring Temasek Holdings Pte’s 10% stake for INR 835 Cr ($100 Mn) in April 2024, where the company was valued at $1 Bn.

The remaining 30% is under the ownership of Walt Disney but has been seeking to exit the TV distribution business after streamlining its portfolio and merging its media operations with Reliance Jio in India. 

In October last year, telecom major Bharti Airtel was in advanced talks with the Tata Group to acquire Tata Play to strengthen Airtel’s presence in the struggling digital TV segment and enhance its bundled offerings, ultimately boosting non-mobile revenues through convergence, as per earlier reports. 

This development comes a month after Tata Sons was known to be planning to infuse capital into its digital arm, Tata Digital, by mid 2025.

Meanwhile, the competition watchdog approved Tata Electronics Private Limited’s (TEPL) proposal to acquire a majority stake in Pegatron Technology India, a few weeks ago. Additionally, CCI further approved Tata Electronics’ plan to transfer the business undertaking of TEL Components, a wholly-owned subsidiary of TEPL, to Pegatron India.