Former Star And Disney India Chairman Uday Shankar Eyes To Raise $345 million Through SPAC

Former President of the Walt Disney Co. APAC and Chairman, Star and Disney India Uday Shankar in collaboration with James Murdoch, former Chief Executive of 21st Century Fox Inc. has established a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) in order to raise $345 million for their new media and tech venture, reported Deadline, a American News Website.

The company, Seven Island Inc. is utilizing the blank-check vehicle to collect or raise money from investors in an Initial Public Offering (IPO). While talking to a leading publishing house, Shankar said that their efforts to identify a prospective target business will not necessarily be limited to a particular industry, sector or region, they intend to capitalize on expertise in the media, entertainment, consumer technology, healthcare, and education industries in Southeast and South Asia, with a particular focus on India.

Additionally, along with Murdoch and Shankar, the Seven Island executive team consists of partners at Murdoch’s Lupa Systems, for example,  Jeff Palker, General Counsel and Gary Knell, National Geographic Chairman will serve as a director.

If media reports are to be believed, Shankar and Murdoch plan to put up a large-scale business in digital media, education, and healthcare delivery,  to a limited extent through acquisitions.

The association between Uday Shankar and James Murdoch is not new but goes back a long way. In late 2000’s, Shankar was administering News Corp's. Asia business in the last part of the 2000s. Later on, in June 2018, Walt Disney later took control of 21st Century Fox in a deal worth $71 billion, which further made Star India, Fox Star Studios, and Hotstar part of Walt Disney.