New Delhi, Aug 23 : In a baffling twist of things, NDTV has said that without having any discussions with the New Delhi Television Limited (NDTV) or its founder-promoters or its founders, a notice was handed to the latter by Vishvapradhan Commercial Private Limited (VCPL) informing them that the company (VCPL) has used its right to take over 99.50 percent control of RRPR Holding Private Limited (RRPRH) which is the promoter-owned company which holds 29.18 percent of NDTV.What does this mean? Does it mean an hostile takeover? “The NDTV founders and the company want to make clear that the exercise of rights by VCPL was done without involvement, discussion with or the permission of the NDTV founders as well as NDTV were informed of the exercise of rights only recently.RRPRH which owns 29.18 percent of NDTV is instructed to give up within two days of its equity shares to VCPL,” NDTV said in the regulatory filing.
VCPL is a solely owned subsidiary of AMG Media Networks Ltd (AMNL) AMNL, the media arm of Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL).VCPL has warrants of RRPR which entitle the company to transform them into 99.99 percent stake in the latter.VCPL has used warrants to purchase 99.5 percent stake in RRPR.The purchase would result in VCPL becoming the controlling shareholder of RRPR.
RRPR is a promoter-group company of NDTV and owns 29.18 percent stake in NDTV.
VCPL along with AMNL as well as AEL (persons performing in concert) will announce an open bid to purchase up to 26 percent stake in NDTV, in compliance with the requirements of SEBI (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations (2011.
NDTV is a major media company that has been pioneering the distribution of reliable news for more than three decades.
The company has three news networks across the countrythe NDTV 24×7 channel, NDTV 24-hours-a-day, NDTV India and NDTV Profit.It also has a strong online presence and is one of the most popular news channels on social networks with over 35 million users on different platforms.
NDTV reported a profit of 421 crore with an EBITDA of Rs 123 crore and a net profit of 85 crore in FY22 with no debt.
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