Adani raises stake in NDTV to 37%

Indian billionaire Gautam Adani addresses delegates at the Bengal Global Business Summit in Kolkata, India on April 20, 2022. REUTERS BENGALURU - Indian billionaire Gautam Adani's conglomerate has raised its stake in New Delhi Television Ltd. NDTV.NS to more than 37% through an open offer, making it the biggest shareholder of one of the country's most popular news networks.

Adani's group was looking to take another 26% stake in NDTV, but the open offer attracted just 5.3 million shares, resulting in an 8.3% interest in the company.

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Adani acquired a 29.2% stake in NDTV last week by buying a company backed by the TV network founders Radhika Roy and Prannoy Roy, who have a 32.3% stake in NDTV.

One of the country's last bastions of free media is under threat, because of the port-to-energy conglomerate's takeover of NDTV.

Soon after Adani's acquisition of NDTV's founder entity, Ravish Kumar, a senior executive editor of NDTV, resigned.

Adani believes the takeover of NDTV is a responsibility rather than a business opportunity, and he has invited Prannoy Roy to remain chair when the acquisition is completed.

In the open offer that ended Monday, corporate investors offered 3.9 million shares, while retail investors offered to sell over 706,000 shares. It was not immediately clear who the participants were.

Adani had offered to buy NDTV shares at 294 rupees, which represents a 25% discount on Monday's closing price.

A fully successful open offer would have meant Adani would have a majority stake in NDTV, but the 37.4% stake still makes him the largest shareholder, said Shriram Subramanian, managing director of InGovern Research Services, a corporate governance advisory firm.

Adani can still take control of the board by reconstituting it with the resulting shareholding. Subramanian said they can propose their own set of directors and remove current directors.

Adani had announced plans late in August to acquire a majority stake in NDTV, but faced stiff opposition from the news network that said the billionaire's bid was executed without the consent of the NDTV founders.

After attempting to block the takeover citing regulatory restrictions on moving shares, the entity backed by the NDTV founders transferred their entire shareholding to Adani last week.