The Dubai-based Jashanmal National Company, a leading business group in the Gulf, has acquired a 51 per cent stake in Mumbai-based media distribution company Media Star.
Sources close to the deal confirmed the development but refused to divulge the consideration.
Media Star is promoted by Ravi Lalwani who will continue to be the managing director of the company.
The Jashanmal group has recently obtained the mandatory approval from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board for the venture.
Media Star is engaged in the business of marketing and distribution of international newspapers, magazines, books, journals and periodicals.
It currently represents and distributes leading international publications such as Financial Times, Khaleej Times, Weekly Telegraph, Euro Business, Vogue, Elle Cosmopolitan, GQ, Hello, Harpers & Queen and also represents major UK/US book publishers.
Such as Time Warner, Hodder & Stoughton, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, Australian Consolidated Press, Parragon, Exley and Peter Pauper Press in India.
The Jashanmal group is also a leading distributor of international press in the Gulf and distributes The Independent, The Guardian, The Economist, The Mirror, The Sunday Express, USA Today among others in the region. The group is also into distribution of perfumes, consumer electronics among others.
Jashanmal's investment in the local company is part of its expansion plans for media distribution business in the sub continent.
For Media Star, while its logistics and distribution network will get a major boost, it will also be able to get distribution rights from publishers across the globe.
