Gautam Adani-led Adani Group will launch its open offer for acquiring an additional 26 per cent stake in news company New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV) from October 17 to November 1, JM Financial, which is managing the offer, said in the Draft Letter of Offer (DLOF) filed with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).
According to the regulatory filing, the open offer for acquisition of up to 1.67 crore equity shares, for which a price of Rs 294 per share has been fixed, will amount to Rs 492.81 crore, if fully subscribed.
On August 23, Adani Group announced its plans to acquire a majority stake in NDTV through the acquisition of VCPL, which holds a 99.99 per cent stake in RRPR Holding, a promoter entity of NDTV.
VCPL had issued a loan of Rs 403.85 crore to RRPR Holding in 2009-10. Against this amount, convertible warrants were issued to the lending entity by RRPR, which holds a 29.18 per cent stake in the news channel company.
With the warrants, VCPL had the right to convert them into a 99.9 percent stake in RRPR in case the loan was not repaid. Adani Group first acquired VCPL from its new owner and exercised the option to convert unpaid debt into a 29.18 percent stake in NDTV, which operates three national news channels – NDTV 24×7, NDTV India, and NDTV Profit.
Meanwhile, NDTV on September 1 said a major stake sale by its founders to Adani Group would require clearance from the country’s tax authorities, adding another hurdle to the conglomerate’s bid to take control of the popular news network, as reported by Reuters.
According to the report, the income tax (I-T) department in 2017 provisionally barred the founders, Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy, from offloading a part of their stake as part of a reassessment of their taxes, NDTV said in an exchange filing.