NDTV shares jump 20% as Sebi orders open offer

Shares of NDTV today settled with 20 per cent gain after market regulator Sebi ordered Vishvapradhan Commercial to make an open offer to the company's shareholders.

Besides, a Bombay High Court directing the RBI to consider the compounding applications filed by NDTV in a case of alleged violation of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) boosted the stock, according to market analysts.

Stock of the company opened on a positive note at Rs 36, then soared further to Rs 39, up 20 per cent from its previous closing price on BSE.

Similar movement was seen on NSE, where the stock opened at Rs 36.10, then gained further ground to touch Rs 38.80, up 19.94 per cent over its last close.

On Tuesday, Sebi ordered a little-known entity, Vishvapradhan Commercial, to make an open offer for NDTV for indirectly acquiring control of up to 52 per cent stake through a convertible loan of Rs 350 crore in 2009 'sourced' from a subsidiary of Reliance Industries.

In a filing to the stock exchanges, NDTV said its editorial policies or business plans have never been "directly or indirectly" given to a third party.

"NDTV's promoters, Radhika and Prannoy Roy, are career journalists. At no point has control of NDTV's editorial policies or its business plans been directly or indirectly yielded to a third party," it said.

According to the filing, no shares have ever been transferred by the promoters to anyone else.

With regards to Vishvapradhan Commercial, NDTV said "it has never been represented by even one director on NDTV's board. NDTV has never ceded even an iota of editorial rights to anyone outside the company".

"The promoters reserve the right to contest any finding or verdict that suggests otherwise," it further noted.

Sebi is also understood to have issued show-cause notices in this case to NDTV's promoters -- Prannoy Roy, his wife Radhika Roy and their holding firm RRPR -- for alleged non-disclosure of the loan pact with VCPL and affiliate entities.

Market analysts said the Bombay High Court order also acted as a trigger for the stock.

The Bombay High Court yesterday directed the Reserve Bank of India to consider the compounding applications filed by NDTV in a case of alleged violation of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).

On Tuesday, a bench of justices S C Dharmadhikari and Bharati Dangre set aside objections raised to the compounding proceedings by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which had earlier flagged the alleged FEMA violations and issued show-cause notices to NDTV in 2015.