A day after Prannoy Roy and his wife Radhika Roy, who founded the television network, resigned from their positions as directors of the promoter group vehicle RRPR Holding Private Limited, as Adani Enterprises announced the resignation of the entire board of directors of NDTV.
The Roys, however, continue to serve on the news channel’s board of directors and still own 32.26 percent of NDTV as promoters. The main Adani company disclosed the members of RRPR’s board of directors via a stock market filing.
Word from Adani Enterprises
In a stock exchange filing, Adani Enterprises stated that they would like to inform the public that RRPR Holding Private Limited issued 1,990,000 equity shares to VCPL on November 28, 2022, representing 99.50% of the paid-up share capital of RRPR. This was in response to the Warrant Exercise Notice that VCPL had sent to RRPR on August 23, 2022. In this regard, VCPL also got a share certificate from RRPR on November 29, 2022.
Furthermore, they added that with effect from November 29, 2022, Sudipta Bhattacharya, Sanjay Pugalia, and Senthil Sinniah Chengalvarayan will serve as directors of RRPR. With effect from November 29, 2022, Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy have resigned from the RRPR board of directors. As a result, the whole board of directors of RRPR is now made up of Sudipta Bhattacharya, Sanjay Pugalia, and Senthil Sinniah Chengalvarayan, who are also directors on the board of VCPL.
Acquiring the NDTV
At the Adani Group, Pugalia serves as both the company’s CEO and editor-in-chief of media projects. The Adani Group purchased RRPR, which owned a 29.18% interest in the news network.
A company connected to Reliance Industries granted Roys an interest-free loan in 2009 for more than Rs 400 crore, which was eventually repaid by a privately held company called Vishvapradhan Commercial Pvt Ltd. With the aid of the loan, VCPL was able to convert warrants into RRPR Holdings shares, which owned a 29.2% stake in NDTV.
In August, the Adani group acquired VCPL and attempted to convert the warrants into shares. A conversion that handed VCPL a 99.5% share in RRPR Holding was approved earlier this week despite initial opposition from NDTV promoters who claimed they had not been consulted. After purchasing VCPL, the Adani group announced an open offer to buy a 26% stake in NDTV. This promotion started on November 22 and ends on December 5.
53.27 lakh shares, or one-third of the open offer size, have received offers thus far. This is true even when the open offer price is being offered at a significant discount to the stock’s existing price.
The ports-to-energy conglomerate is requesting up to 1.67 crore shares, or 26% of equity, from NDTV’s minority investors. If the open offer is accepted, the Adani group will hold a controlling stake of just over 55%.
