In 2009, a Mukesh Ambani group entity took control of NDTV under the guise of a loan agreement. The plan was to find a buyer in “three to five years”. No buyer has been found so far and effectively, NDTV is controlled by the Ambanis
In July 2009, Vishvapradhan Commercial Pvt Ltd, a company associated with Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) gave a loan of Rs350 crore without any interest to NDTV’s Prannoy Roy, his wife Radhika Roy and their private holding company RRPR Holding Pvt Ltd. This was a bailout-cum-takeover in the guise of a loan.
The sole purpose of the loan was to repay funding obtained by Roys obtained from a bank, which is barred by the market regulator. Under the agreement signed on 21 July 2009, the Roys were to issue a convertible warrant that equals to 99.9% of the “fully diluted equity share capital of the borrowers (the Roys and RRPR Holdings) at the time of conversion” and the Ambani group agreed to limit their aggregate shareholding to 26%.
Let us unravel for you this wonderfully structured “loan document” which effectively allowed Ambani to take over the company with a few key clauses.
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Who Owns your media – worth reading http://www.newslaundry.com/2014/02/05/who-owns-your-media-4/