Acquisition was made without consent and without any notice: NDTV
As per the revised shareholding pattern, Roys will continue to hold 32.26% stake in NDTV
After Adani Group subsidiary AMG Media Networks Limited (AMNL) on Tuesday announcing that it will indirectly acquire a 29.18% stake in media and news broadcaster New Delhi Television (NDTV) and launch an open offer to acquire another 26%, an internal communication by NDTV management called this acquisition as “without their (Radhika & Prannoy Roy) consent or without any sort of notice.”
The copy which e4m has accessed stated, “VCPL has acquired RRPRH, which is a company owned by Radhika and Prannoy; it has 29% of NDTV. This acquisition was made without their consent or without any sort of notice. It rests on a loan agreement dating back to 2009-10. Radhika and Prannoy continue to hold 32% of NDTV.”
“VCPL has been acquired by Adani Media Group. This Group has also announced an open offer to buy upto 26% of NDTV’s shares from the market. Such an open offer is required if one entity picks up 25% in the Company (VCPL has acquired 29% as stated above). We are in the process of evaluating the next steps, many of which involve regulatory and legal processes,” it further added
AMNL’s wholly-owned subsidiary Vishvapradhan Commercial Private Limited (VCPL) has exercised the rights to acquire 99.5% of the equity shares of RRPR Holding Private Limited, a promoter group company of NDTV, according to a media statement by Adani Group. Such acquisition will result in VCPL acquiring control of RRPR. The acquisition of 29.18% stake is likely to cost about ₹495 crore, said an Adani Group official aware of the development.
“NDTV has never compromised on the heart of its operations- its journalism. We continue to proudly stand by that journalism”, the internal communication read.
As per the revised shareholding pattern, Roys will continue to hold 32.26% stake in NDTV.
"NDTV founders and the company would like to make it clear that this exercise of rights by VCPL was executed without any input from, conversation with, or consent of the NDTV founders, who, like NDTV, have been made aware of this exercise of rights only today. RRPRH, which owns 29.18 per cent of NDTV, has been told to transfer within two days all its equity shares to VCPL" NDTV said in a regulatory filing.
