Deccan Chronicle seeks partners in Deccan Chargers, Odyssey

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Deccan Chronicle seeks partners in Deccan Chargers, Odyssey

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, PK Iyer managing director of Deccan Chronicle spoke about the latest happenings in his company and the road ahead.

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Excerpts from Bazaar on CNBC-TV18 Watch the full show » ALSO READ See latest News about DeccanChronicle See previous management interviews See what other Experts & Brokerages are saying about DeccanChronicle DeccanChronicle BSE | NSE 30/05/12 Are Mutual Funds betting on DeccanChronicle?

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, PK Iyer, managing director of Deccan Chronicle spoke about his plans about the proposed stake sale of two assets, Odyssey and Deccan Chargers.

Below is the edited transcript of the interview. Also watch the accompanying video.

Q: What stage of talks are you in for the monetisation of the two assets?

A: I won't comment on market speculations about stake sale being around the corner, but we have been always working towards finding ways of unlocking value in both these assets. These assets are good and we have worked on it for about eight-nine years now. They have a good traction, and I am excited about FDI in retail because media companies, globally, specifically the print media, is driven by retail. So we are excited as it will be the largest beneficiary of this change in policy.

Apart from this, Odyssey will always be keen to find a partner as we have set out footprint across the country. We have the square footage, a particular segment in which we operate, and we are open to finding solutions in that space. The Andhra (Telengana)  problem too is behind us and combined with these policy changes that we are seeing in the country, we are excited going into 2012 and onwards from here.

Q: Are you in conversation with anyone for stake sale in Deccan Chargers or Odyssey or are you not looking at doing a strategic sale in either property for now?

A: Unlocking value is always on the radar at the right price. We are ready and happy to unlock the value through either strategic or equity sale. After holding these assets for such a long time, we are keen that these values get unlocked.

Q: How soon do you expect the sale?

A: I see two ways: We will either inform the (stock) exchange or run an astrology chart or something.

Q: Are you disappointed that you did a buyback at much higher prices when the stock has come down to Rs 47?

A: I don't think so. When we were a Rs 300 crore company, our marketcap was at Rs 7,000 crore. You have seen this market more closely over a decade and you know how these things operate - one turnaround in sentiment and prices go up.

We are excited about what we have done in the past two years of slowdown; with our entry into Kerala, we have finished the last piece of the jigsaw puzzle in South India. We have concentrated our position in Tamil Nadu and have a strong presence in Andhra. We have also gone ahead and done our piece in Karnataka. So today, we are the largest circulated English daily as far as South India is concerned. Our printing takes place from Coimbatore, Calicut, Cochin and Bangalore.

We are much stronger than what the (stock) was quoting, so that price is absolutely justified. In fact, our price at that point was Rs 180 and we are lucky to have got it at an average of Rs 66 or Rs 72 . We are very happy and excited about it.