Murdoch Jr., Uday Shankar plan venture to acquire media firms
James Murdoch's investment company Lupa Systems and Uday Shankar, former president of Walt Disney Asia Pacific unit, are weighing a plan to raise funds through a special purpose acquisition company (Spac), people familiar with the matter said.
Murdoch, former CEO of 21st Century Fox Inc, and Shankar are seeking a blank-cheque vehicle to acquire Asian companies in sectors, including media and technology, the people said. The joint venture is sounding out advisers as well as potential investors in the Spac. They are considering listing the vehicle in the US, one of the people said.
Deliberations are at an early stage, and details of the potential Spac, including venue may change, the people said. Shankar and a representative for Lupa declined to comment.
Lupa and Shankar announced a partnership in January to look for growth avenues across
emerging markets.
The 48-year-old son of billionaire Rupert Murdoch resigned from the board of News Corp in July last year, citing differences of opinion with the publishing company. Lupa entered India less than two years ago and has built a portfolio of technology investments, according to the statement.
Murdoch and Shankar previously worked together at Star India, which became the country's largest media company before Walt Disney's takeover of a swathe of 21st Century Fox's assets, including Star, in 2019. Shankar worked for the Asia-Pacific unit of Disney after the deal, but left in December last year.
Investors ploughed $83 billion into 248 Spacs in the US last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The trend is rapidly going global, with blank-cheque companies springing up in recent months to focus on targets in Asia, or with ties to the region.
Hong Kong billionaire Richard Li established a $595 million Spac with PayPal Holdings Inc cofounder Peter Thiel. Former Morgan Stanley India head Narayan Ramachandran's Spac raised about $173 million in January, and plans to seek a tie-up with a technology business led by members of the Indian diaspora.
The heat is on Virat Kohli. The Indian skipper has now lost four consecutive Test matches, but he is confident of bouncing back. The second Test begins at the same venue in just three days.
Excerpts from postmatch press conference:
On India’s batting performance: I think the Test probably shifted in their favour when we batted in the first innings because we were looking to bat long and we were not able to do that and I don’t think there was enough application shown by us as a batting unit. It (showing application) is something that we take a lot of pride in. We don’t think about batting milestones. We think about partnerships and putting the team into good positions.
On England coming with better preparation: They said the same thing when Australia won the first Test in 2017 as well. It’s important we don’t jump the gun and we don’t come to conclusions too early. As a side, our focus is the next Test and bouncing back into the series. What is being perceived is something that doesn’t bother us at all. You could say they are well prepared but to say they are better prepared than us in our own conditions is not an accurate assessment.
On the decision to pick Shahbaz Nadeem ahead of Kuldeep Yadav: When you are playing two off spinners, Kuldeep more or less becomes a similar kind of spinner taking the ball away (from the left hander) so you need variety in the bowling attack. We were quite clear on what combination we wanted to play and there are no regrets. Moving forward we will think of combinations which brings us variety as a bowling attack and not one dimensional.
On Ajinkya Rahane’s performance: I have said many times in the past as well. Along with Pujara, he is our most important Test batsman and he’s gonna continue to be. We believe in his abilities.
On the World Test Championship standings (India pushed No.4): We are not bothered at all about the table. Our approach in the next three tests is not going to change. If the rules suddenly change during lockdown, then nothing is in your control.
On India’s bowling: As a bowling unit, we did not bowl well collectively. The pacers and Ashwin bowled in good areas. But if Nadeem and Washi were equally economical, then there would have been more pressure on England.