CA Media, the Asian investment unit of the Chernin Group, a media group set up by News Corp’s former senior executive Peter Chernin, has acquired a large minority stake in Graphic India, an India-based comic book and animation company.
Media entrepreneurs Sharad Devarajan, Gotham Chopra and Suresh Seetharaman launched Graphic India as a subsidiary of US comic book company Liquid Comics, which will retain a stake.
Devarajan is chief executive (CEO) of Graphic India and remains executive chairman of Liquid Comics.
As part of the transaction, Liquid Comics’s comic book library based on Indian characters, such as Davi, The Sadhu and Ramayan 3392AD, will be run by Graphic India.
The Indian youth marketplace has more than 500 million consumers under the age of 25 and the country has more than 850 million mobile phone users.
Rajesh Kamat, CEO of CA Media India and former chief operating officer at Viacom18 Group, said: “Following our successful entry into the traditional media space, we are very pleased that Graphic India marks our first investment in the digital space. CA Media’s aim is to create an ecosystem of diversified assets across media, where each asset not only unlocks its own value, but also adds to the rest of the portfolio.”
The Chernin Group (TCG) owns a majority stake in CA Media and co-founded the company in 2010 alongside Paul Aiello, former CEO of News Corporation’s Star TV Asia division.
As well as CA Media, TCG’s assets include Chernin Entertainment, which produces feature films and television programmes, and several strategic investments in digital media companies, including Pandora, Fullscreen, Base79, MiTú, Tumblr, Flipboard and Scopely.
TCG’s investors include media-focused private equity firm Providence Equity Partners; Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund; Victor Koo, founder and CEO of China-based video company Youku; and venture capital firm Chengwei Capital.