Adani Enterprises on Tuesday said that it will raise the amount it pays New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV) stockholders who tendered their shares in the conglomerate's open offer to match what it paid the news broadcaster's founders for their stake.
Adani Enterprises said it will pay an additional Rs 48.65 per NDTV share to investors who sold their shares in an open offer between November 22 and December 5, taking the payout to Rs 342.65 per share and matching what it paid NDTV founders Radhika and Prannoy Roy.
Adani Group in a letter to the regulators informed about the development.
"The Securities and Exchange Board of India's takeover guidelines are clear ... Whatever price the acquiree gets, the minority shareholders also should get the same," said Shriram Subramanian, managing director of InGovern Research Services, a Bengaluru-based corporate governance advisory firm.
About 5.3 million shares were tendered in the open offer, at Rs 294 apiece, and Gautam Adani now controls about 65 per cent of NDTV after acquiring a 27.26 per cent stake from the Roys last week, four months after launching his takeover.
Founded in 1988 and owned by the husband-and-wife team, NDTV had said the takeover move "was executed without any input from, conversation with, or consent of the NDTV founders".
Still, the founders sold a majority of their shares and retained only a 5 per cent stake. The Roys and four other independent directors also resigned from the board, effective December 30.
NDTV's stock is down about 20 per cent since Adani's announced his takeover plans in August. They were last up 1.2 per cent on Tuesday.