Anil Ambani-Saregama buzz refuses to die down

KOLKATA: Corporate folklore has it that Dhirubhai Ambani during his lifetime, spurred by his passion for music fancied Saregama India Ltd, the music and video publishing business of RPG Enterprises.

But feelers to bring Saregama into the Reliance fold was supposedly politely turned down by Rama Prasad Goenka, an avid music lover himself.

The notes are right now very muted and at low decibels, but overtures are getting audible that Anil Ambani may just be tuning up to fulfill the wishes of his late father and bring Saregama finally into the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) fold to complement its entire spectrum of entertainment business, ranging from movies to FM radio.

But talking to DNA Money, Sanjiv Goenka, vice chairman, RPG Enterprises, said, “There is absolutely no merit in all talks of selling off Saregama. We are and will remain invested in Saregama.”

Despite the denial, the sounds of a buyout continues to reverberate: Sonata Investment, an Anil firm, has picked up a 7.63% stake in Saregama from the secondary markets. ADAG sources said a deal for Saregama stake was sparked off by a spate promotional collaborations between Reliance Infocomm and music and films produced by Saregama.

Meanwhile,  Saregama has already sold off substantial part of land at its factory at Dum Dum in the outskirts of the city and real estate on Ripon Street in downtown Kolkata to real estate developers, the Belani Group.

Saregama insiders said that production of music cassettes at the Dum Dum factory had fallen sharply and much of the music (CDs and cassettes) were in any case being done at ADAG recording studios in Mumbai.