Adani Group's open offer for 26% of NDTV's shares approved by SEBI

According to a statement on SEBI's website, the Securities & Exchange Board of India accepted Adani Group's open offer, allowing Adani to acquire.

The market watchdog SEBI has accepted Adani Group's open offer to purchase a further 26% share in the broadcaster New Delhi Television Ltd. on Monday. This takeover effort has sparked worries about the deterioration of press freedom in the largest democracy in the world.

According to a statement on SEBI's website, the Securities & Exchange Board of India accepted the Adani Group's open offer, enabling Adani to purchase more equity from the media company's minority owners.

The conglomerate, headed by Gautam Adani, the richest man in Asia, had changed the offer's launch date to November 22. According to NDTV, it will close on December 5.

NDTV's founders received a loan of more than 400 crore from a little-known company more than ten years ago in exchange for warrants that would have permitted the company to purchase a 29.18% share in the news organization at any moment.

The buyout attempt has been rejected by Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy, the founders of NDTV. They had insisted that neither of them knew anything about the takeover and that it had been carried out without their permission.

Adani has now taken a step toward expanding its presence in the Indian media industry. The billionaire is quickly expanding his enterprise beyond its foundation of coal mining and ports to branch into airports, data centres, cement, and digital services. The billionaire's personal fortune, estimated at about $138 billion, has increased the most globally in 2022.

For the second quarter that concluded in September, NDTV recorded a rise in consolidated net profit of 4.4% to 13.03 crore. According to a regulatory filing, the company reported a net profit of 12.48 crore during the quarter from July to September of last year.