Adani Group To Launch Open Offer For NDTV On 22 November

The Adani group announced that its open offer to acquire an additional 26% public shareholding in NDTV will open for subscription from November 22 to December 5.

The open offer for acquiring 1.67 crore equity shares with a face value of Rs 4 will tentatively close on December 5, 2022, said JM Financial, which is managing the offer. 

Vishvapradhan Commercial Pvt. Ltd (VCPL) with AMG Media Networks and Adani Enterprises Ltd have proposed to acquire an additional 26%, or 1.67 crore equity shares, at an offer price of Rs 294 per share. 

Earlier, the Gautam Adani-led company had said it will launch its open offer from October 17 to November 1. 

The Adani group acquired a 29.18% stake in NDTV in August this year, enabling the group to launch an open offer.

The last date for filling the post offer report with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has also been revised to December 26, 2022. 

The conglomerate in August acquired Vishvapradhan Commercial Private Limited which lent over Rs 400 crore to NDTV's founders in 2009 in exchange for warrants that allowed the company to acquire a stake of 29.18 per cent in the news group.

It later added that it wanted to acquire additional 26 per cent of shares from the public through an open offer from October 17. 

As VCPL held NDTV shares, upon its acquisition, the Adani Group is now the owner of a 29 per cent stake in NDTV. 

In October, Adani Group, which missed the date for the launch of an open offer to buy an additional 26 per cent stake in NDTV, said it is committed to completing the process and has asked SEBI to provide comments on its draft open offer letter.

Adani group had previously rejected claims that the major stake sale by NDTV founders would require clearance from tax authorities.

The promoters of NDTV had claimed that they were completely unaware of the takeover and it was done without their consent.

NDTV operates three national news channels - English news channel NDTV 24x7, Hindi news channel NDTV India, and business news channel NDTV Profit.

It also has a strong online presence and remains one of the most followed news handles on social media with more than 35 million followers across various platforms.