The fate of Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited, which publishes English daily Deccan Chronicle, Telugu newspaper Andhra Bhoomi and financial daily Financial Chronicle, seem to be a never-ending story!
The debt-ridden company, which reportedly had outstanding loans of over Rs 7,000 crore, has takers -- both for its Indian Premier League franchise team Deccan Chargers and for itself.
But then where lies the problem? one may wonder.
"It's a double whammy for DC," says a person in privy to the development.
"Though many corporates including the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, the Adani Group, Videocon chairman Venugopal Dhoot and one Chennai-based publishing house are more than willing to buy into DC, they are averse to factor in the forbidden child (read Deccan Chargers) as part of the take-over deal," he reasons.
For the uninitiated, Deccan Chargers has had a lacklustre performance in the IPL so far, except for Season-II when it emerged as the winner.
"While the DC management is 'expecting' around Rs 1,000 crore from the sale of Chargers, market 'expectations' are quite different. DC's IPL team may rake in just Rs 500 crore given its reputation of figuring in the last or last-but-one positions at the end of each IPL season," says an investor banker.
Why and for what reason (or reasons) DC had gone for such HUGE loans is yet to be clear what with market watch dog Sebi (Securities and Exchange Board of India) still being clueless, how DC will get rid of its debt is now an over $1 billion question.
