Asia’s Richest Man, Gautam Adani, Seeks Majority Stake In India’s NDTV

Adani Group has mounted a bid to take a majority interest in New Delhi Television (NDTV) as the conglomerate controlled by billionaire Gautam Adani and his family deepens its investments into India’s media industry.

Through AMG Media Networks (AMNL), Adani Group bought Vishvapradhan Commercial for 1.14 billion rupees ($14.3 million), giving it a 29.2% stake in NDTV, the company said in regulatory filing on Tuesday. Following the acquisition, Adani said it will buy another 26% in the media company for 4.93 billion rupees, offering shareholders 294 rupees a share, a 20% discount to NDTV’s closing price yesterday.

“This acquisition is a significant milestone,” Sanjay Pugalia, CEO of AMG Media said in a statement. The company aims “to pave the path of new age media across platforms.” Formed earlier this year, AMG Media had in March bought a 49% stake in Quintillion Business Media, publisher of digital news website BloombergQuint, for an undisclosed sum.

The NDTV acquisition comes as the group’s founder expands his business empire through a series of deals including the acquisition of Swiss giant Holcim’s cement business in India for $10.5 billion in May. Adani overtook fellow Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani to become Asia’s wealthiest person in February.

Last month, Adani became the world’s fourth richest person with a Real-Time net worth of about $137.5 billion, overtaking Bill Gates, whose wealth shrank in July after donating $20 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Adani also made a 600-billion-rupee donation to various social causes to mark his 60^th birthday in July.

Adani had in 1988 started a commodity exporting firm, which he has since grown into one of India’s largest conglomerates with interests in ports, mining, infrastructure, utilities and real estate. Following the acquisition of a 74% stake in Mumbai International Airport at the height of the pandemic in September 2020, he is now the country’s biggest airport operator. Adani plans to invest as much as $70 billion on renewable energy projects to achieve his goal of becoming the world’s top producer of green energy.