Mumbai: Viacom18 today announced that following the sanction by NCLT Mumbai, the Scheme  of merger of Reliance Storage Limited with itself has become effective and Viacom18  has allotted shares to Bodhi Tree Systems and RIL group entities as consideration for  the Scheme of merger. Upon consummation of this merger, (i) the integration of  JioCinema into Viacom18 has been completed; and (ii) Viacom18 has access to Rs. 

15,145 crore of cash for its planned growth, comprising Rs. 10,839 crore contributed  by RIL group entities and Rs. 4,306 crore contributed by Bodhi Tree Systems. Qatar  Investment Authority (QIA), the sovereign wealth fund of the State of Qatar, is an  investor in Bodhi Tree Systems. 

As a consequence of the closing of the transactions noted above, the shareholding  of Viacom18 will be:  

(a) Equity: TV18 – 50.994%; Paramount Global – 48.994%; Bodhi Tree – 0.011%
(b) CCPS: RIL group entities – 82.2%; Bodhi Tree – 17.8%
(c) Fully diluted basis: RIL group entities – 60.37%; TV18 – 13.54%; Bodhi Tree – 13.08%; Paramount Global – 13.01% 

The partnership will enable Viacom 18 to innovate and disrupt the M&E sector, with  Uday Shankar and James Murdoch providing strategic and operational guidance to  Viacom 18, leveraging their track-record of building iconic media businesses. Uday  Shankar has been appointed to the Board of Viacom18. Paramount Global will  continue as a shareholder and supply Viacom18 its premium global content. This  unique partnership brings together India’s biggest conglomerate, two of the most  recognized media industry veterans and a leading global media and entertainment  company. 

Viacom 18’s digital-focused strategy is already paying rich dividends with IPL’s first  weekend viewership on JioCinema crossing the digital viewership recorded in the  entire season last year. The platform set several new records with 2.5 crore+ app  downloads in a single day, 147 crore video views on the opening weekend and a peak  concurrency of 1.6 crore for the first match. This strong viewership was driven by  JioCinema’s extensive fan-centric unique features like 4K feed, 12-language  coverage, 16 unique feeds, hype mode, and multi-cam setup, among others.