Adani Group’s Rs 493-cr open offer for NDTV begins today

New Delhi: Adani group’s open offer to acquire an additional 26 per cent stake in the media firm New Delhi Television (NDTV) from the market would start from Tuesday.

The offer, for which a price band of Rs294 per share has been fixed, will open on November 22 and closes on December 5, said a notice by JM Financial, the firm managing the offer on behalf of Adani Group firms. Markets regulator Sebi on November 7 granted its approval to the proposed Rs492.81 crore-open offer. The conglomerate, run by India’s richest man Gautam Adani, in August acquired a little-known company that lent over Rs400 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 per cent in the newsgroup at any time. Post that, VCPL – the firm that the Adani group bought out – announced that it would launch an open offer on October 17 to buy an additional 26 per cent stake from minority shareholders of NDTV.

However, the offer was delayed since Sebi 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 per cent or 1.67 crore equity shares at an offer price of Rs294 per share. If fully subscribed, the open offer will amount to Rs492.81 crore at a price of Rs294 per share. “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 said in a regulatory filing in October. On Monday, shares of NDTV closed at Rs382.20 on BSE, down 5 per cent, touching a lower circuit.