Hours after industrialist Gautam Adani’s group said it will buy a majority stake in New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV), the media group said that the move was executed without its consent.
“Without any discussion with NDTV or its founder-promoters, a notice has been served upon them by Vishvapradhan Commercial Private Limited (VCPL), stating that VCPL has exercised its rights to acquire 99.50% control of RRPR Holding Private Limited (RRPRH), the promoter-owned Company that owns 29.18% of NDTV,” the NDTV said in a statement.
Adani group firms made an offer to acquire 26 per cent stake of NDTV following indirect acquisition of 29.18 per cent shareholding in the media and news broadcaster.
The Adani Group’s media subsidiary has fully acquired Vishvapradhan Commercial Pvt. Ltd., an investor in New Delhi Television Ltd. AMG Media Networks Ltd., a wholly owned arm of Adani Enterprises Ltd., acquired the stake from Nextwave Televentures Pvt. and Eminent Networks Pvt. at an enterprise value of Rs 113.74 crore, according to an exchange filing.
Vishvapradhan along with AMG Media and Adani Enterprises will make an open offer for 26% stake or 1.62 crore shares of NDTV at Rs 294 apiece, according to the disclosure. That’s a 20.5% discount to NDTV’s closing price on Tuesday. The aggregate cost of the acquisition will be Rs 482.80 crore.
NDTV, a leading media house, operates three national news channels – English news channel NDTV 24×7, Hindi news channel NDTV India and business news channel NDTV Profit.
Until Monday, NDTV had maintained that its promoters were not in talks to sell their stake in the company.
“Radhika and Prannoy Roy are not in discussions now, nor have been, with any entity for a change in ownership or a divestment of their stake in NDTV,” it had said.
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