Asia’s richest man Adani in hostile bid for NDTV Media Group

The company of Indian billionaire Gautam Adani announced on Tuesday that it wants to own a majority position in the well-known New Delhi Television (NDTV), a move that the TV news organisation claims was made without its permission. NDTV issued a statement saying the move by the Adani Group “was executed without any input from, conversation with, or consent of the NDTV founders.”

A day after Adani announced it was seeking a majority investment in the media group, shares of India’s NDTV Ltd. soared 5% to their highest level in 14 years, on Wednesday. A division of the Adani Group announced that it had used financial rights to make an offer to buy a 29.18% share in NDTV and set forth preparations for an open offer for the second holding of 26% in accordance with Indian laws.

One of the most well-liked news organisations in the country, NDTV is recognised as one of the few media outlets that frequently expresses criticism of the policies of the in-power administration. It runs NDTV 24×7 in English, NDTV India in Hindi, and a business news channel, three national networks.

Although Adani withheld financial information on the group’s intended purchase of a 29.18% interest, it did state that their subsequent open offer would be for 294 INR ($3.68) for each NDTV share or 4.93 billion rupees. The difference between that open offer price and NDTV’s Tuesday close of 369.75 rupees is 20.5%.

According to Adani Group executive Sanjay Pugalia, “NDTV is the most appropriate broadcast and digital platform to deliver on our objective.”

Adani, the richest man in Asia, staked his first media wager in March when he acquired a small share in Quintillion, a local digital business news site. The proposed NDTV deal, however, represents Adani’s most high-profile media wager yet. Airports and ports, power generation and transmission, coal and gas trading are just a few of the industries where the Adani Group has publicly traded businesses.