New Delhi: The Adani Group on Friday said it had acquired 27.26 per cent equity stake in NDTV from the promoters — Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy — indicating that the group had acquired the majority stake in the media firm.
In a statement on Friday, the Adani Group said, “RRPR, an indirect subsidiary of Adani Enterprises and member of the promoter/promoter group of NDTV, has acquired 27.26 per cent equity stake in NDTV from Mr. Prannoy Roy and Mrs. Radhika Roy (“Sellers”) by way of inter-se transfer under Securities and Exchange Board of India (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations, 2011.” According to the statement shared with the stock exchanges, consequent to the present acquisition, RRPR will now hold 56.45 per cent equity stake in NDTV.
The Adani Group also said Vishvapradhan Commercial Private Limited (an indirect subsidiary of the Adani group) holds 8.27 per cent equity stake in NDTV and RRPR (prior to the present acquisition) held 29.18 per cent equity stake in NDTV.
AMG Media Networks, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Adani Enterprises Limited, had announced on August 23 that it had acquired 100 per cent equity stake in Vishvapradhan Commercial Private Ltd (VCPL).
On December 23, Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy said in a statement that discussions with Gautam Adani had been constructive since the open offer was launched and the suggestions that have been made were accepted by Adani Group chief “positively and with openness”.
The AMG Media Network, after the recent open offer, is now the single-largest shareholder in NDTV, according to the statement. “Consequently, with mutual agreement, we have decided to divest most of our shares in NDTV to the AMG Media Network,” it said. “Since the open offer was launched, our discussions with Mr. Gautam Adani have been constructive; all the suggestions we made were accepted by him positively and with openness,” it added.
The NDTV founders had proposed to transfer 27.26 per cent of their shares in the media company to Adani Group.
Radhika and Prannoy Roy had proposed to sell 13.44 per cent and 13.82 per cent stake, respectively, in NDTV to RRPR Holding, NDTV said in a stock exchange filing earlier.
On December 23, the Adani Group held 37 per cent stake in NDTV after an open offer and an earlier acquisition.
