Adani’s open offer to buy 26% in NDTV to open on Nov 22
The Adani group Friday announced that its open offer to acquire an additional 26% public shareholding in NDTV will open for subscription from November 22 to December 5.
Vishvapradhan Commercial Pvt. Ltd (VCPL) with AMG Media Networks and Adani Enterprises Ltd have proposed to acquire an additional 26%, or 1.67 crore equity shares, at an offer price of Rs 294 per share. The previous timeline for the open offer by Adani was October 17 to November 1.
The Adani group acquired a 29.18% stake in NDTV in August this year, enabling the group to launch an open offer.
According to BSE data, public shareholders hold 38.55% stake in the company as of September 2022.
In August, Adani entities had acquired VCPL which had lent over Rs 403 crore to NDTV founders led by Prannoy Roy.
VPCL had lent the amount in 2009-10 in exchange for warrants that allowed it to acquire a stake of 29.18% in NDTV at any time. Against this interest-free loan, RRPR Holding issued warrants to VCPL entitling it to convert them into a 99.9% stake in RRPR.
RRPR holds a 29.18% stake in NDTV. Notably, VCPL had raised funds from Reliance Strategic Ventures, a wholly owned subsidiary of Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd, to extend the loan to RRPR.
After the transaction, the acquirer (Adanis) will not directly acquire any equity shares of the target company (NDTV) but shall hold at least 99.50% and up to 100% of the paid up share capital of the promoter company (RRPR Holdings), which holds 18,813,928 equity shares in the target company constituting 29.18% of the voting share capital of the target company, it said in the offer document.
Meanwhile, NDTV and its subsidiary, NDTV Networks Ltd, are putting on hold the proposed sale of their stake constituting 20% of the total share capital of Astro Awani Network Sdn Bhd, a media company in Malaysia.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has withheld for now its approval of the transaction vide its letter dated November 9, 2022.
The company is currently examining the legal options available to it and will take the necessary action accordingly, NDTV said in a stock exchange filing.
