MUMBAI: Jagran Prakashan has snapped up NaiDunia Media Ltd. for an enterprise value of Rs 2.25 billion, continuing the wave of consolidation that the regional print media market is going through.

The all-cash deal will bolster Jagran‘s presence in the newspaper market in Central India. Jagran will also derive tax benefits from the accumulated losses at NaiDuniya, which has accumulated losses of Rs 2.25 billion. Estimates suggest that the tax benefit could be in the range of Rs 750-800 million.

Ending days of speculation, Jagran Prakashan Monday announced the acquisition of Indore-based Suvi Info Management, the parent of publishing house NaiDunia Media Limited. NaiDunia comes out with publications in Hindi and Urdu.

Ernst & Young was the exclusive advisor in the transaction.

Earlier, Jagran had acquired Mid Day, an afternoon tabloid, in 2010.

Jagran Prakashan chairman and managing director Mahendra Mohan Gupta said, "This was a logical market expansion that enables us to strengthen our presence in Central India. NaiDunia is a newspaper with a very strong team and has demonstrated editorial excellence over the last several decades. With the acquisition of Mid Day in 2010 and this acquisition, we are well on our way towards implementing our strategy of inorganic growth through mergers and acquisitions. On the one hand, this allows us to bring significant scale with much lesser investment and on the other hand, it saves long gestation period, which is typical to the print industry. The acquisition will enable us to leverage our existing network and allow significant operating synergies."

Has the acquisition price been too steep? "Had Jagran Prakashan planned a greenfield expansion in the region, the total cost could have run into at least Rs 3 billion. Hence, the buyout (at the net of tax price) does make sense as it gets a ready entry into the market with a revenue market share of 14 per cent. The acquisition does not excite us from a short term perspective, but we feel that the price paid (net of tax benefits) is inexpensive and should derive benefits in the medium to long term," a media analyst said.

Nai Dunia is the third largest read newspaper in Madhya Pradesh and the fourth largest in Chhattisgarh. Its expected revenues could be in the range of Rs 1.05 billion with an Ebitda loss of Rs 250 million (excluding losses from the closed NCR edition of Nai Dunia).

NaiDunia was launched in 1947 and has multiple editions published from Indore, Gwalior, Jabalpur and Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh and Raipur and Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh. NaiDunia?s Delhi edition was shut down as part of this takeover. The Urdu edition is a weekly.

Will DB Corp be impacted? " We believe that DB Corp will not be impacted because of the entry of Jagran Prakashan from a short-to-medium term perspective. ?Patrika?, however, could be impacted as Jagran would become aggressive to win back the No. 2 slot in MP," the analyst said.

MUMBAI: Big Magic, Reliance Broadcast Network‘s music and entertainment channel for the Hindi heartland is launching a new devotional singing reality show for children.

The show, Big Bal Kalakaar, premieres in mid-December.

Powered by the company‘s FM station Big FM, auditions for the show will begin in 14 cities in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand. The show will be hosted by singer Prajakta Shukre and will be judged by Jatin Pandit and Rajan-Sajan Mishra. Pandit Gulshan Bharti is the mentor for the kids.

The city auditions will culminate in four cluster auditions from which 10 young voices will be chosen for the 26 episode TV series with each episode having a special theme. These 10 participants will be mentored by Gulshan Bharathi for two weeks before the TV show begins.

Through the show Big Magic wants to reach out to the local young talent and will spread across music schools in the region as well.

Big Bal Kalakaar calls for auditions through media platforms of both Big Magic and Big FM. This will also be supported by a holistic media campaign involving - print, local cable, SMS pushes etc, the channel said in a statement.

NEW DELHI: Uday Kumar Varma, who had earlier served as special secretary in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, was today appointed secretary in the same Ministry, succeeding Raghu Menon who retired at the end of September.

Varma is a senior Indian Administrative Service Officer from Madhya Pradesh belonging to the 1976 batch. He was presently serving as secretary in the Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises Ministry. 

Indiantelevision.com had earlier reported that Varma was tipped to succeed Menon as I&B secretary.

After Menon demitted office on superannuation, culture secretary Jawhar Sircar was given additional charge of the post.

Varma?s appointment has been cleared by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.