Indian billionaire Gautam Adani's conglomerate on Tuesday said it seeks to control a majority stake in the popular New Delhi Television NDTV.NS (NDTV), a move the TV news group said was executed without its consent.
A unit of the Adani Group said it had used financial rights in a bid to purchase a 29.18pc stake in NDTV, laying out plans for a subsequent open offer for another 26pc stake in line with Indian regulations.
Hours after the announcement, NDTV issued a statement saying the move by the Adani group "was executed without any input from, conversation with, or consent of the NDTV founders."
Adani Group did not respond to NDTV's remarks.
One of nation's most popular news organisations, NDTV is regarded as one of the few media groups which often takes a critical view of the ruling administration's policies. It operates three national channels - NDTV 24x7 in English, NDTV India in Hindi and a business news channel.
While Adani did not disclose financial details of the group's planned 29.18pc stake purchase, it said its subsequent open offer would be for 294 Indian rupees ($3.68) per NDTV share, which would be worth 4.93 billion rupees.
That open offer price is at a 20.5pc discount to NDTV's Tuesday's close of 369.75 rupees.
NDTV was founded by one of India's most famous TV news personalities, Prannoy Roy, and his wife in 1988. Other than TV news channels, the group also runs online news websites.
On Monday, NDTV said in a stock exchange disclosure that Radhika and Prannoy Roy were not in discussions with any entity for a change in ownership or a divestment of their stake in NDTV.
They individually and through their company continue to hold 61.45pc of NDTV, the statement said.
($1 = 79.7890 Indian rupees)