Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy have resigned from the board of directors of RRPRH, the promoter group of NDTV. In an exchange filing, NDTV reported that Sudipta Bhattacharya, Sanjay Puglia and Senthil Sinnaiah Chengalvarayan have been appointed as directors on the board of RRPRH with immediate effect.
This comes just a day after a promoter firm of the media major – RRPR Holding Pvt Ltd – issued equity shares amounting to 99.5 per cent of its equity share capital to Vishwapradhan Commercial Pvt Ltd (VCPL), which has been acquired by Adani. With this, the Adani Group formally took over 29.18 per cent stake in NDTV.
VCPL is a wholly owned subsidiary of AMG Media Networks, which owns the media business of the Adani Group.
Adani Group has acquired 29.18 per cent stake in NDTV and launched an open offer to buy another 26 per cent stake in the media firm. A total of 39.35 lakh equity shares were tendered till last Friday, which was 23.48 per cent of the maximum offer size of about 1.68 crore equity shares.
The open offer, with a price band of Rs 294 per share, will open on November 22 and close on December 5.
In August this year, Adani acquired VCPL, which had loaned over Rs 400 crore to NDTV founders, in lieu of warrants that would have allowed the company to acquire a 29.18 per cent stake in the media firm at any point in time.
In October, Adani Group announced that it had acquired 29.18 per cent stake in NDTV and would launch an open offer for another 26 per cent from minority shareholders of the media company.
In a regulatory filing in October, Adani Enterprises said the decision to acquire NDTV was made in furtherance of Adani Group’s objective of establishing a credible next-generation media platform with emphasis on digital and broadcast segments And NDTV is a suitable one. Broadcast and digital platforms to fulfill this vision.
