NDTV founders Prannoy and Radhika Roy to get Rs 602 cr for selling their stake to Adani

Gautam Adani didn’t walk into the NDTV office with a sink, but his takeover of the news channel was no less dramatic than Musk’s Twitter acquisition. After exiting NDTV, anchor Ravish Kumar claimed that Adani spent thousands of crores just to silence him, but his former employers are also getting a piece of the pie. Prannoy and Radhika Roy may have lost the media organisation that they founded, but are set to gain a Rs 602 crore payout as part of the deal.

Bagged a premium compensation

The duo who picked up a Rs 400 crore loan that paved the way for Adani’s takeover, will get paid Rs 342 per unit for their shares, which is 17 per cent more than the price for the open offer. They are eligible for the hefty compensation after selling their 27.26 per cent stake in the news organisation, which allowed Adani to take his stake to 64.72 per cent. The Roys aren’t full time directors of NDTV anymore, but they still hold a 5 per cent stake that is worth another Rs 110 crores.

How it unfolded

In order to be exempt from SEBI’s norms on open offers, the share price wasn’t increased by more than 25 per cent, above to the average rate in the past two months. For the morning block deal executed to transfer the shares, the previous day’s closing price was taken into account.

Big takeovers generate big payouts

NDTV’s takeover was one of the most talked about acquisitions in 2022, along with Twitter, where the CEO Parag Agrawal was escorted out of the headquarters. Him and another Indian-American executive Vijaya Gadde were also eligible for a payout of Rs 1,000 crore after the deal.