Indian billionaire Gautam Adani will control 64.71% of New Delhi Television Ltd as the company’s founders have decided to sell most of their shares to his conglomerate, four months after he launched a takeover for the news network.
Adani already owns 37% of NDTV through an open offer and an acquisition of a company owned by founders Radhika and Prannoy Roy, despite several unsuccessful attempts by NDTV to block the takeover citing regulatory restrictions on moving shares.
The Roys said on Friday they will sell a 27.26% stake in NDTV to the AMG Media Network, an entity owned by Adani, regulatory filings by NDTV showed.
The ports-to-energy conglomerate’s takeover of NDTV had raised fears among some journalists that one of the country’s last bastions of free media was under threat. Ravish Kumar, a senior executive editor of NDTV, resigned soon after Adani acquired the entity backed by NDTV’s founders.
“The AMG Media Network, after the recent open offer, is now the single largest shareholder in NDTV. Consequently, with mutual agreement we have decided to divest most of our shares in NDTV to the AMG Media Network,” the founders said in a statement.
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