Reliance gains 2% on forming $8.5 bn JV with Disney merging India media ops

Shares of Reliance Industries (RIL) jumped nearly 2 per cent to Rs 2,958 on the BSE in Thursday’s intraday trade after it said the conglomerate, Viacom18 Media and The Walt Disney Corporation will form a joint venture (JV) that would merge the television and digital streaming businesses of Viacom18 and Star India.

The value of the JV at Rs 70,352 crore ($8.5 billion) was on a post-money basis, excluding synergies, the company said in an exchange filing.

At 09:32 am, RIL was trading 1.6 per cent higher at Rs 2,955, as compared to 0.17 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex. The stock had hit a record high of Rs 2,999.85 on Tuesday, February 27. In the past four months, RIL has outperformed the market by surging 31 per cent.