The shares of India’s third-largest satellite TV provider surged 9% on Wednesday to reach an intraday high of ₹ 16.35. Ace investors are picking the company’s shares, while retail investors are offloading them. This increase comes after a change in the leadership of Dish TV.
Dish TV has faced challenges both on the corporate and business front in the past year. In fact, Yes Bank which is Dish TV’s largest shareholder, with a 24.78% stake, was locked in a legal battle with the company over its board representation. It was pushing for the removal of its chairman and a few other people.
Thereafter, Jawahar Lal Goel, the Chairman of broadcast satellite service provider Dish TV stepped down from the company’s board on September 19, 2022. Earlier in June, shareholders rejected the proposal for the reappointment of Anil Kumar Dua as a whole-time director of the company, following which he had to vacate his office.
The broadcast satellite service provider has merely three independent directors—Rajeev Dalmia, Rashmi Aggarwal and Shankar Aggarwal. This is less than the minimum six prescribed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
Yes Bank has been demanding an overhaul of the board and has recommended the induction of seven members. As a result, Dish TV has agreed to consider the induction of three independent directors—Girish Paranjpe, Arvindnachya Chandranachya and Madan Mohanlal Verma. Following this, seasoned investors have started buying a stake in the company.
Mint reported that those who bought a stake in the company include family members of Amal Parikh, founder of Mumbai-based Ohm Stock Broker and one of the three trustees of Rakesh Jhunjhunwala’s Rare enterprises. They bought a 0.65% stake in the company. In addition, large foreign funds are also buying a stake in the company.
According to the shareholding data for the July to September quarter, Mukul Agrawal bought a 1.4% stake in the company. He holds 2.5 crore shares approximately worth ₹ 40.3 crores as of Wednesday.
The latest shareholding data of Dish TV shows that institutional investors have increased holdings from 37.25% to 43.32% in the July to September quarter, while public shareholding has decreased from 58.7% to 52.6%.
Written by Simran Bafna
