Eros International PLC, a leading global company in the Indian film entertainment industry, has announced that following customary approval processes, the sale of a 5 per cent stake in Eros to Reliance Industries Limited, previously announced on February 20, 2018, has been completed.

Reliance Industries, a statement from Eros International said, has acquired 3,111,088 newly issued A ordinary shares in Eros which represents 5.0% of Eros’ current issued and outstanding ordinary share capital on a pro forma basis. The purchase price was $15.00 per share, which represents a total cash consideration of $46.6 million.

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC acted as exclusive financial advisor to Eros International Plc in this transaction, it added.

Reliance Industries is India’s largest private sector company, with a consolidated turnover of RS 430,731 crore (USD 63.3 billion) and net profit of Rs 36,075 crore (USD 5.3 billion) for the year ended March 31, 2018.

In February this year, RIL, through a subsidiary, has agreed to subscribe to a 5 per cent equity stake in Eros
Furthermore, RIL and Eros International Media Limited announced that they have agreed to partner in India to jointly produce and consolidate content from across India. The parties will equally invest up to Rs 1,000 crores in aggregate (approximately USD150 million) to produce and acquire Indian films and digital originals across all languages.

In addition, it was announced that Jyoti Deshpande, Group CEO and MD of Eros will be stepping down from her Executive role after more than 17 years in Eros and move on to head the Media and Entertainment business at RIL as President of the Chairman’s Office.

In her new role at RIL, Jyoti Deshpande will lead the company’s initiatives in Media and Entertainment to organically build and grow businesses around the content ecosystem such as Broadcasting, Films, Sports, Music, Digital, Gaming, Animation etc., as well as integrate RIL’s existing media investments such as Viacom and Balaji Telefilms with a view to build, scale and consolidate the fragmented USD 20 billion Indian M&E sector.