Promoter firm NDTV transfers 99.5% stake to Adani-owned VCPL | News Bharat

“We hereby inform you that VCPL has received a letter from RRPR Holding Private Limited (“RRPR”) (through its counsel) dated November 28, 2022 confirming the issue of shares constituting 99.5% of the equity capital of VCPL on 28 November 2022,” Adani Enterprises said in its regulatory filing.

The share transfer will give the Adani group control of a 29.18 percent stake in NDTV. The port-to-power conglomerate is also conducting an open offer for another 26 percent stake in the company.

The open offer, which began on November 22, has seen shareholders trade 5.3 million shares, or 31.78 percent of the issue size of 16.7 million shares, so far, stock exchange data showed.

In August, VCPL, which was acquired by the Adani group, said it had exercised rights to acquire an indirect stake of 29.18 percent in NDTV by converting promoter RRPR Holding’s warrants into equity stake in the company.

The move triggered an open bid to acquire an additional 26 per cent stake in NDTV from its shareholders, although its founder-promoters, the Roys, are said not to have agreed to the exercise of rights, nor was there any talk or input on the matter .

The conglomerate, led by Asia’s richest man Gautam Adani, told the Financial Times this month that it intended to expand NDTV to make it an international media group and had asked Roy to stay on as chairman.

Almost a decade ago, NDTV founders Radhika and Prannoy Roy took a loan of INR 4 billion ($49.00 million) from a company that Adani acquired in August. In return, they issued warrants that allowed the company to acquire a 29.18 percent stake in the news group.

On Monday, NDTV shares were locked in the 5% upper range of the BSE, settling at ₹406.10 per piece.