Vijayanand Printers, publisher of two Kannada newspapers, Vijaya Karnataka and Usha Kiran and English daily Vijaya Times, is in talks with Bennett, Coleman & Co, which owns English daily The Times of India and financial daily The Economic Times, for a possible stake sale.
Vijayanand Printers managing director Anand Sankeshwar confirmed the development to Business Standard but refused to comment on the size of the deal as well as the stake that the promoters might sell.
"We are in talks with Bennett, Coleman & Co to raise funds. At this moment, I can't tell you anything further," he said.
He, however, replied in negative when asked whether other domestic and foreign media companies were in the race.
While the Times of India is the number one English daily in Bangalore, Vijaya Times enjoys the leadership position outside the state capital in various districts of Karnataka.
Sources close to the development said the company has appointed Edelweiss Capital as the advisor for the deal. They pointed out that the Vijaya group had fixed an enterprise value of Rs 200 crore for Vijayanand Printers.
"The promoters are into transport business in which they are the market leader. They may pull out of the publishing business to concentrate more on their transport business," they added.
BCCL sources, requesting anonymity, said they were looking at a total buyout. "We are currently in negotiations and are very optimistic about the deal going through."
Sources said HT Media and Jagran Prakashan showed interest in acquiring stakes in Vijayanand Printers. But the negotiations did not materialise.
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