News Corp's wholly owned subsidiary Star India has exited from Hathway Cable and Datacom Limited by selling off its 17.3% stake to two foreign funds, the US-based Providence Equity Advisors and Sydney-headquartered Macquarie Bank for Rs 358 crore, reports Economic Times. While the reason for selling the stake is yet unknown, Asian Cable Systems Limited, News Corp's subsidiary had stated in a stock exchange filing with the NSE, that it has sold 24,715,500 equity shares, constituting 17.3% of total equity shares in Hathway Cable and Datacom Limited, in open market for Rs 3583989711.90 (Rs 358 Crore) to Macquarie Securities(India) Pvt Ltd. The reports states that both the transactions happened through a series of separate bulk deals at Rs 145 per share. While, Macquarie Bank bought nearly 1.05 crore shares for around Rs 153 crore, Providence Equity Advisors bought the remaining 1.41 crore shares for about Rs 205 crore. In 2000, Star India had bought 26% stake in Hathway as a promoter entity, thus becoming the biggest shareholder in the company, however post Hathway's IPO, the company's stake had dropped to 17.30 percent. As of December 31, 2011, Asian Cable Systems held 17.3% stake followed by promoter Akshay Rajan Raheja who owned 17%, Viren Rajan Raheja who had a 16.74% stake, Hathway Investments Ltd which had a 10.47% stake and Spur Cable & Datacom Pvt Ltd which had a 5.36% stake. 19.76% stake was held by foreign institutional investors, mutual funds and other entities including Franklin Templeton India which held 2,083,425 shares, DSP Blackrock Group which held 1187550 shares, Reliance…
