Adani Group close to NDTV’s takeover

NEW DELHI, Nov 30:
NDTV founders Prannoy Roy and his wife Radhika Roy have resigned as the directors of promoter group vehicle RRPR Holding Private Limited as the Adani Group neared takeover of the television channel.
RRPR, which has been acquired by the Adani Group, held 29.18 per cent stake in the news channel.
The Roys, however, still hold a 32.26 per cent stake in NDTV as promoters and have not resigned from the board of the news channel.
In a stock exchange filing late on Tuesday, New Delhi Television Ltd said the two have resigned as directors on the board of RRPR Holding Private Limited (RRPRH) with immediate effect.
Prannoy Roy is the Chairperson of NDTV and Radhika Roy is an Executive Director.
The board of RRPR Holding has approved the appointment of Sudipta Bhattacharya, Sanjay Pugalia and Senthil Sinniah Chengalvarayan as Directors on its board with immediate effect, NDTV said.
The appointments and resignations were approved by the RRPRH board at its meeting on Tuesday.
The three are nominees of Adani Group which earlier this week had taken control of RRPR Holdings.
In 2009, Roys had taken an interest-free loan of over Rs 400 crore from a firm linked to Reliance Industries, that eventually ended up with a closely-held firm, Vishvapradhan Commercial Pvt Ltd. The loan allowed VCPL to convert warrants into shares of RRPR Holdings, which held a 29.2 per cent stake in NDTV.
Adani group in August bought VCPL and sought to convert the warrants into shares. NDTV promoters initially opposed the move saying they were not consulted but earlier this week relented and allowed the conversion, which gave VCPL a 99.5 per cent stake in RRPR Holding.
With Adani group controlled entity VCPL firmly in the saddle of RRPR Holdings, the Roys resigned as directors of the company.
RRPR, or Radhika Roy Prannoy Roy Holdings Private Limited, till now was classified as a promoter entity. It held 29.18 per cent stake in the news channel. Prannoy Roy holds 15.94 per cent of NDTV and Radhika Roy another 16.32 per cent (together 32.26 per cent). (PTI)