Seeking to expand its media reach, the ports-to-energy Adani Group has made a bid to buy news television company NDTV, one of the earliest players in the TV news business.
Shortly after the Adani Group announced the acquisition plans, NDTV said in a notice to the stock exchange the offer was made “without any discussion” with husband-and-wife team Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy who were the founders and are still the key shareholders.
The Adani Group’s media arm announced it is buying a 29.18 per cent stake in New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV), and will make an open offer at Rs 294 a share to acquire another 26 percent of the shares in line with SEBI rules.
The purchase is being made by Adani’s media arm, AMG Media Network Ltd (AMNL), which is owned by the group’s flagship company Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL).
This "acquisition is a significant milestone" in the company's goal to "pave the path of new age media across platforms,” AMNL chief executive Sanjay Pugalia said in a statement.
Soon after the planned takeover announcement, NDTV issued its own statement to the stock exchange, saying that the acquisition notice had been served on them “without any discussion with New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV) or its founder-promoters).”
NDTV said the notice given to them by Vishvapradhan Commercial Pvt Ltd (VCPL), the wholly owned subsidiary of AMNL which is carrying out the actual transaction, “has exercised its rights to acquire 99.50 per cent control of RRPR Holding Private Ltd, the promoter owned Company that owns 19.18 per cent of NDTV”.
The TV company’s shares closed Tuesday at Rs 376.55 apiece, up 4.9 per cent from the previous day. The share price soared by three per cent at mid-afternoon as news of the open offer began circulating.
NDTV was one of the first TV news broadcasters in India and Prannoy Roy had spotted the potential of TV news early on. It owns three national news channels: NDTV 24x7, NDTV India and a business channel, NDTV Profit.
“With its leading position in news and its strong and diverse reach across genres and geographies, NDTV is the most suitable broadcast and digital platform to deliver on our vision,” Pugalia said. He added that AMNL “looked forward to strengthening NDTV’s leadership in news delivery.”
“This acquisition is a significant milestone in the journey of AMNL’s goal to pave the path of new age media across platforms,” said Pugalia.
The Adanis, who have been on a diversification binge, only recently created the media arm AMNL. The group hired veteran journalist Sanjay Pugalia to head it. In March, it bought a 49 per cent stake in Quintillion Media BQ Prime, formerly known as Bloomberg Quint. The Adanis bought out broadcaster Raghav Behl’s stake in the company.
Talk of an NDTV takeover by the Adani Group first surfaced last September but at the time NDTV said there were no talks under way for a sale.
As late as Monday, NDTV denied any possibility of a sale, saying in a statement to the BSE that “this is a baseless rumour, and that Radhika and Prannoy Roy are not in discussions now, nor have been, with any entity for a change in ownership.”
NDTV’s share price has been rising steeply in recent months. It climbed Rs 69.90 in the past five days and Rs 103.50 (37.90 per cent) in the past month. In the last six months it has jumped by Rs 241.05.
At the time, the share price rise was attributed to better-than-expected results. NDTV reported revenue of Rs 421 crore and a net profit of Rs 85 crore for the financial year ending in March 2022.
Top legal firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas is acting for the Adanis in this deal.
