To give time for Adani’s open offer
By Amit C
MUMBAI/August 28-2022: NDTV, which made headlines recently, has deferred its annual general meeting (AGM) by a week to September 27 in the wake of the open offer made by the Adani group to acquire a further 26 per cent in the media group, according to a regulatory filing on Saturday.
It was a few days ago, the Adani Group announced its plan to indirectly buy 29.18 per cent stake in NDTV, which has necessitated an open offer to buy a further 26 per cent from the market.
And it is in this context, NDTV has decided to postpone its AGM from September 20 to 27 in order to allow time for the processes involved in the open offer.
“The 34th AGM of NDTV is being moved from September 20, 2022, to September 27, 2022 as a result of the processes required after the Notice and Public Announcement of the Open Offer made by VCPL (an indirect subsidiary of Adani Enterprises Ltd) to our public shareholders for acquiring up to 26 per cent of the voting share capital of the company,” said the regulatory filing made available by the stock markets.
A loan taken by NDTV’s promoter, RRPR Holding Pvt Ltd, from Vishvapradhan Commercial Pvt Ltd (VCPL), which was earlier acquired by the Adani Group, has led to the new developments.
In 2009-10, NDTV had taken a loan of Rs403.85 crore from VCPL against, which RRPL had issued warrants.
On non-payment of the loan, VCPL invoked the right to convert those warrants into a 99.9 per cent stake in RRPR as per the covenants attached to the loan.
The Adani group first acquired VCPL from its new owner and exercised the option to convert unpaid debt into a 29.18 per cent stake in the news channel company.
