Adani open offer for additional stake in NDTV starts Oct 17: JM Financial

Open offer for acquiring up to 1.67 crore equity shares will amount to Rs 492.81 crore, if fully subscribed

The Adani Group will launch its open offer for acquiring an additional 26 per cent stake in media firm New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV) from October 17 to November 1, JM Financial, which is managing the offer, said in a draft letter of offer (DLOF), on Thursday.

The open offer for acquiring up to 1.67 crore equity shares, for which a price of Rs 294 per share has been fixed, will amount to Rs 492.81 crore, if fully subscribed.

The DLOF specifies that the last date for SEBI observations is September 28. The last date for dispatch of the letter of offers to the public shareholders is October 10.

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The Adani Group, on August 23, unveiled a plan to acquire a majority stake in the news network, through the acquisition of VCPL, which holds a 99.99 per cent stake in RRPR Holding, a promoter entity of NDTV.

VCPL issued a loan of Rs 403.85 crore to RRPR Holding in 2009-10. Against this amount, convertible warrants were issued to the lending entity by RRPR, which holds a 29.18 percent stake in NDTV.

VCPL had the right to convert the warrants into a 99.9 percent stake in RRPR if the loan was not repaid. Adani Group first acquired VCPL from its new owner and then exercised the option to convert unpaid debt into a 29.18 percent stake in NDTV. This had triggered the open offer for an additional 26 per cent stake in the company.

RRPR said last week that the transaction would require "approvals and/or clarifications from the Income Tax Authorities", adding that they were provisionally attached by the Income Tax Authorities in the year 2017, with notification in 2018 that the attachment would remain in place until completion of reassessment proceedings.

RRPR had also invited VCPL to join its application to the income tax authorities seeking clarification over the deal.

Adani Enterprises said that the disclosure by RRPR had been issued with the intent to further "inordinately delay" and seek to justify its default in compliance with its obligation towards allotment of equity shares to VCPL.