Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd has revamped the positioning of its ad- for – equity business as it gears for a larger play. Initially known as Times Private Treaties, the offering will now be known as Brand Capital.
Brand Capital, leverages its media platforms with national presence, to provide funding to growth oriented enterprises for their long term advertising needs. It essentially picks up equity into companies in exchange of offering them ads in its media platforms.
The rationale behind revamping is to incorporate the rapid growth of the business and align the brand name with the core business of providing advertising capital to Indian enterprises.
“As the business evolves and continues to grow at a rapid pace, it was imperative to align the brand name with the core business of providing advertising capital to enterprising India and set us apart from the many namesakes that have made private treaties generic,” Ravi Dhariwal, CEO, Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd (BCCL) said elaborating on the new brand.
He further added, “Our focus in The Times Group continues to be the growth of advertisement revenue and Brand Capital would bring in new and emerging product and service businesses to the world of brands, especially in the print medium.”
The leadership team remains the same with S. Sivakumar continuing to be the CEO of Brand Capital. In an earlier interview to VCCircle, S. Sivakumar, the then CEO of Times Private Treaties, said that the treaties is about nothing, but getting an advertiser, and that the only prism they look at a client is through an advertiser prism. What other avenues of capital raising , or business models that it is exploring ahead of venturing into a bigger game, as it positions, is not known.
Brand Capital has till now invested in more than a hundred companies. Some of these include Hanung Toys and Textiles Ltd, Provogue India Ltd, Apollo Health & Lifestyle Ltd., Neesa Leisure Ltd., Allied Digital Services Ltd., among others.
