In 2009 Radhika and Prannoy Roy took a corporate loan of Rs 403.85 crore on behalf of RRPR from VCPL, granting it rights to 99.99 percent shares of RRPR if it wished. At the centre of the deal is a shell company called Vishvapradhan Commercial Private Limited, or VCPL, which has had no assets in its 14 years of existence, apart from some debentures of RRPR, a promoter entity of NDTV. In September last year, NDTV said in a statement that the company was “not in discussions now, nor has been, with any entity for a change in ownership or a divestment of any sort” and the “founder-promoters, Radhika and Prannoy Roy, who are both journalists, own 61.45 percent of the company and remain in control of it”.īut the change in ownership, it turns out, might not have required a consultation with the Roys. Rumours of Adani acquiring NDTV have been doing the rounds for close to a year but they were dismissed by the Roys earlier. Once the process is over, Adani, who has enjoyed a decades-long relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and seen his wealth sky-rocket in the last eight years of the BJP’s government, will become the owner of one of the most trusted news brands in the country. The deal has kicked in an open offer, under which the Adani group is open to acquire another 26 percent of the company, making it the majority shareholder and squeezing out Radhika and Prannoy Roy, the founder-promoters who count among the most respected names in the television journalism industry in the country. Through an indirect deal, the media arm of Adani Enterprises, led by Gautam Adani, the fourth richest person in the world, will acquire nearly 30 percent of NDTV’s shares over the next two days.
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