Adani Group’s offer to NDTV starts on October 17, JM Financial

Adani Group’s offer to acquire up to 26% stake in television broadcaster New Delhi Television Ltd from public shareholders will open on Oct 17 and go on till Nov 1, according to a draft offer letter sent to the exchanges by JM Financial.

The open offer is from Adani Group’s subsidiaries Vishvapradhan Commercial Pvt Ltd, AMG Media Networks Ltd and Adani Enterprises Ltd, and JM Financial is acting as a manager to the offer.

Under the open offer, the Adani Group will acquire up to 16.76 mln shares, representing 26% stake, of NDTV at 294 rupees a share, leading to a total consideration of 4.9 bln rupees. If successful, this will give Adani Group a majority stake in NDTV, one of India’s leading television broadcasters.

The open offer got triggered after Adani Enterprises indirectly acquired 29% stake in the broadcast company.

Adani Enterprises first acquired Vishvapradhan Commercial, which had lent money to NDTV’s promoter group company RRPR Holding more than a decade ago. After the acquisition, it converted the loan Vishvapradhan Commercial had advanced to the NDTV promoter into equity.

NDTV promoters Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy, who own RRPR Holding, were caught off-guard with this, and said the deal was done without their consent.

In a series of letters to Vishvapradhan Commercial after the announcement of the stake acquisition, NDTV promoters claimed the transaction would require approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India and income tax authority.

However, the Adani Group company termed these claims as delaying tactics, and has now gone ahead with the open offer.

As per the draft offer document, the last date for Adani Group to raise the price of the open offer is Oct 13.

At 0941 IST, shares of NDTV were down 5% at 468 rupees on the National Stock Exchange, while those of Adani Enterprises were up 0.2% at 3,479.50 rupees. Since the announcement of stake buy from Adani Group, shares of NDTV have risen 27%. Free Press Journal