Jagan Mohan Reddy has been defending the huge premium paid for shares in Sakshi, citing Eenadu case. The 10 rupee share was acquired for Rs 360 by many investors including Matrix Prasad in Sakshi. The CBI says that the valuation – which is 35 times more than the face value – was unreasonable and was only paid as a quid pro quo for the benefits the investors received from the then government.
However, Sakshi has been saying that each share in Ushodaya Publications – publishers of Eenadu – was paid a whopping and unheard of Rs 5,28,000 by Reliance. Eenadu was reporting losses, and if a loss making company could command such huge premium, Sakhsi could easily have got Rs 360 per share.
Jagan made exactly this same point before the Nampally CBI court judge when he was produced by the CBI following his arrest.
Eenadu, which has been silent for a long time on the charge, at last opened its mouth. According to the paper, Jagan and his partymen have been spreading falsehoods all this while about Ushodaya shares.
The report said that the number of shares in Ushodaya were far less than those of Sakshi and hence the figure quoted for Eenadu share was wrong. Besides, valuation was not for just Eenadu paper, but includes all ETV channels and Priya Foods. Contrary to Sakshi’s claims, Eenadu was earning a profit of Rs 229 crore in 2007 during which year the assessment was done.
Elaborating its stand, Eenadu said that while Sakshi has 10,61,41,180 (Rs 10.61 crores) shares, Ushodaya had only 1,26,280 Rs 1.26 lakhs). If the valuation is divided by this number, each share of Ushodaya costs more than 5 lakhs. But if Sakshi method is followed, each share of Eenadu comes to just Rs 275 only. While Eenadu has more than 30 years business history behind it, Sakshi shares were lapped up for Rs 360 even before the paper saw the light of the day, Eenadu report contended.
