The open offer by the Adani Group to buy a further 26% share in NDTV will be available for subscription from November 22 to December 5. According to JM Financial, who is managing the offer, the open offer to purchase 1.67 crore equity shares with a face value of Rs 4 is anticipated to end on December 5, 2022.
The agreed-upon cost of the transaction is Rs 294 per share. The Gautam Adani-led business had stated that it would begin its open offer for a share in NDTV between October 17 and November 1.
On the other side, December 26, 2022, has been changed as the deadline for submitting the post-offer report to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). Vishvapradhan Commercial Private Limited (VCPL), which is supported by the Adani Group, said on August 23 that they would convert the Rs 400 crore loan made to RRPR (Radhika Roy Prannoy Roy) in 2009 into a 29% interest in NDTV. Later, it added, it planned to start an open offer on October 17 to buy an additional 26% of shares from the general public. Due to VCPL’s ownership of NDTV shares at the time of its acquisition, the Adani Group currently owns a 29 percent stake in NDTV.
A financing agreement between VCPL and the Roys from 2009 allowed the media company to borrow Rs 403 crore without interest for 10 years in exchange for a pledge of their 29% ownership of NDTV. After acquiring VCPL, Adani Group unlocked the loan agreement clauses that allowed them to acquire a substantial portion of the NDTV shares because the Roys were unable to repay the debt.
Days following the announcement, Radhika Roy and Prannoy Roy, the founders of NDTV, said that Sebi approval is required for the purchase to move forward.
According to reports, a Sebi order issued on November 27, 2020, barred the founders of NDTV from the securities market for two years, which ended on November 26 of this year. Restrictions are in order, according to the founders of NDTV, therefore Vishvapradhan Commercial Private Limited (VCPL) needed prior written authorization from Sebi to execute the conversion option on the warrants.
To get clarification on the validity of the regulator’s earlier order regarding the conversion of warrants into shares, RRPR Holding Ltd. and the Adani group filed a complaint with Sebi.
The promoter entity RRPR Holding is not covered by the regulator’s decision preventing Prannoy and Radhika Roy from accessing the securities market, according to Adani Group, which had challenged NDTV’s assertion.
After purchasing VCPL from its previous owner, The Adani Group exercised the option to convert unpaid debt into a 29.18% ownership in the news channel company. The NDTV promoters had asserted that they were ignorant of the transaction.
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