Gautam Adani, the world’s third-richest man, took majority control of New Delhi Television, or NDTV, after founders Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy sold a 27.26% stake in NDTV to an Adani unit for ₹602 crore in several block deals.
On Friday, Adani Enterprises, through its indirect subsidiary, RRPR Holdings, acquired an additional 17.6 million shares of NDTV for ₹342.65 apiece from the Roys.
The transaction, which was at a nearly 17% premium to what minority shareholders were offered in an open offer that ended on 5 December, increased Adani’s stake in NDTV to 64.7%.
Shares of NDTV rose 0.1% to ₹345.60 on BSE on Friday.
Gautam Adani, founder and chairman of Adani Group, said, “Adani Group is privileged to further bolster NDTV with world-class infrastructure and talent and transform NDTV into a thriving multi-platform global news organisation.“
Subsequent to change in control, NDTV has also appointed Sunil Kumar (ex-member of Indian Administrative Service) and Aman Kumar Singh (former civil servant), to its board of directors. Earlier, Sanjay Pugalia and Senthil Chengalvarayan were also appointed on the NDTV board.
All the new directors have diverse experience in the fields of news, literacy and public policy, governance, media, branding, communication, technology, and economy, and their rich set of competencies, skills and experience will be extremely valuable to NDTV, Adani Group said in the statement.
Pugalia, who is also CEO of AMG Media Networks, said, “I take this opportunity to thank Radhika Roy and Prannoy Roy for a friendly and seamless transition.”
He added that one of the first things that Adani Group plans to do is to strengthen and invest in the NDTV newsroom to be a multi-faceted multi-media digital platform.
“To grow NDTV’s digital reach via greater regional content, new formats, personalization and interactivity with viewers would require more reporters, producers and editors, supported by strong research tools. We will deliver news that really adds value to the lives of Indian citizens and those interested in India,” Pugalia said.
The transactions were done through an inter-se transfer under the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) Regulations, 2011, which allows share transfer at a premium to the current market price if the firm is an existing promoter group.
RRPR Holdings was initially an NDTV promoter group firm, which Adani Group’s AMG Media Network acquired in August by converting warrants. Following the acquisition, Adani Group announced an open offer to buy 26% more of NDTV in accordance with Sebi’s takeover regulations and increased its holding to 37.45%.
On 23 December, the Roys announced their plan to sell a significant part of their stake to Adani Group, keeping only 5% of the company they founded. The transfer was done on Friday morning in four block deals.
In August, Adani acquired Vishvapradhan Commercial, a company that extended a loan of ₹403.85 crore to RRPR Holding in 2009-10 in lieu of warrants, convertible into a 99.9% stake in RRPR Holding if the loan was not repaid.
Adani Group used the warrants to acquire the stake in NDTV and announced an open offer at ₹294 per share. Despite the open offer price being lower than ₹376.55, the closing share price on that day, Adani Group managed to acquire an additional 8.26% stake in NDTV, making it the single largest shareholder of the news broadcaster.
