Billionaire Gautam Adani-led Adani Group's open offer to acquire an additional 26% stake in news broadcaster New Delhi Television Ltd from the market would start from Tuesday, 22 November.
The offer, for which a price band of ₹294 per share has been fixed, will open on 22 November and closes on 5 December, a notice by JM Financial, the firm managing the offer on behalf of Adani Group firms has said. The previous timeline for the open offer by Adani was 17 October to 1 November.
Reports suggest the promoters of NDTV – Radhika Roy and Prannoy Roy (RRPR) – may not mount a legal challenge against Adani Group's open offer for additional shares in the firm.
Earlier on 7 November, capital markets regulator Sebi granted its approval to the proposed ₹492.81-crore open offer.
The conglomerate, run by India's richest man Gautam Adani, in August acquired a little-known firm that lent more than ₹400 crore to NDTV's founders more than a decade ago in exchange for warrants that allowed the company to acquire a stake of 29.18% in the media firm at any time.
Following that, VCPL – the firm that the Adani group bought out – announced that it would launch an open offer on 17 October to buy an additional 26% stake from minority shareholders of NDTV. However, the offer was delayed since the market regulator had not given its approval to the open offer.
VCPL along with AMG Media Networks and Adani Enterprises Ltd had proposed to acquire an additional 26% or 1.67 crore equity shares at an offer price of ₹294 per share.
If fully subscribed, the open offer will amount to ₹492.81 crore at a price of ₹294 per share.
NDTV promoters had contested the open offer and the acquisition of VCPL stake, asserting that the deal cannot go ahead without Sebi's nod as well as that of the Income Tax Department.
However, the Adani Group had rejected claims that the stake sale would require clearance from tax authorities.
"The decision to acquire NDTV was arrived at in furtherance of the Adani Group's objective to set up a credible next-generation media platform with an emphasis on digital and broadcast segments, and that NDTV is a suitable broadcast and digital platform to deliver on this vision," Adani Enterprises had earlier said in a BSE filing.
The promoters of NDTV had also claimed that they were completely unaware of the takeover and it was done without their consent.
Shares of NDTV settled at ₹382.20 on the BSE today, down 5%, touching a lower circuit.
