Adani Group’s ₹493 Crore Open Offer For NDTV Starts Today

Adani Group is acquiring 26% stake in NDTV. The group has opened ₹493 crore offer & the price band has been fixed ₹294 per share.

The open offer by the Gautam Adani-led Adani Group to buy an additional 26% of New Delhi Television Ltd. from the market will begin on Tuesday, November 22.

According to a letter from JM Financial, the company conducted the offer on behalf of the Adani Group entities.

The offer, for which a price band of $294 per share has been defined, will begin on November 22 and end on December 5. Prior to this, Adani’s open offer had a 17 October–1 November timeframe.

The difference between the offer price and NDTV’s Monday closing price is 23.07%. The price of NDTV shares on the BSE today dropped by 5% to 382.20 rupees, striking a lower circuit.

On September 5, 2022, the share price of NDTV reached a high of 540.85 in the previous three months.

According to reports, the promoters of NDTV, Radhika Roy and Prannoy Roy (RRPR), may not file a lawsuit to block the Adani Group’s open bid to purchase more shares of the company.

Earlier on November 7, the authority of stock markets, Sebi, gave its clearance to the proposed open offer of 492.81 crore rupees.

The conglomerate, led by India’s richest man Gautam Adani, acquired a little-known company in August in exchange for warrants that gave the business the right to purchase a 29.18% stake in the media company at any moment. 

This firm had previously financed the founders of NDTV more than 400 crore.

Following that, VCPL—the company that the Adani group had acquired—announced that it would make an open offer to NDTV’s minority shareholders on October 17 in order to acquire a further 26% of the company. 

The market regulator, however, had not yet approved the open offer, thus the offer was delayed.

The NDTV promoters had asserted that they had been fully uninformed of the acquisition and that it had been carried out without their permission.

At an offer price of 294 rupees per share, VCPL, AMG Media Networks, and Adani Enterprises Ltd. planned to purchase an additional 26%, or 1.67 crore equity shares.

The open offer will cost 492.81 crore rupees ($294 per share) if it is fully subscribed.

Promoters of NDTV had objected to the open offer and the purchase of VCPL’s stake, claiming that the transaction was unable to proceed without approval from both Sebi and the Income Tax Department.

The Adani Group, however, previously denied assertions that the stake sale would need tax authority approval.