Adani Stocks Buzz: Why NDTV, Adani Ent Shares Will Be In Focus This Week Over 50% Stake Acquisition In IANS?

In a strategic move, Adani Group has enhanced its footprint in media segment. Adani which stepped into the media business last year in March, holds major stakes in two news digital media outlets, but now it has also added leading wires news agency Indo-Asian News Service or IANS to its module. Adani has acquired a 50.50% stake in IANS, making it the largest shareholder in the company. Accordingly, Adani Enterprises and NDTV share prices will be in focus this week.

50.50% stake in IANS was acquired by AMG Media Networks which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Group's flagship company Adani Enterprises. Notably, AMG is a parent company of Adani's only listed media stock NDTV. Hence, traders will react in these two stocks this week over the latest acquisition.

Last week, on Friday, NDTV's share price at Rs 266.55 apiece, down by 0.98% with m-cap of Rs 1,718.48 crore. On the contrary, Adani Enterprises share settled at Rs 2,990.25 apiece, down by 3.32%. with m-cap of Rs 3,40,888.84 crore.

In the trading week that ended on December 15, NDTV shares broadly ended on a flat note however in green. Meanwhile, Adani Enterprises' share surged nearly 6% in the week.

As per its regulatory filing, AEL stated that its wholly-owned subsidiary AMG Media Networks has acquired 50.50% stake
constituting Equity Shares (Category I shares - with voting rights) and Equity Shares (Category II shares - without voting rights) each of IANS India Private Limited ("IANS") on 15th December 2023 by Share Purchase Agreement.

The transfer of shares related to the acquisition received a green signal by the Board of IANS at its meeting on Friday. It added, "We would like to further inform you that, AMNL has also signed a shareholders' agreement with IANS and Sandeep Bamzai, a shareholder of IANS, to record their inter-se rights with respect to IANS."

The cost of acquisition or the price at which the shares are acquired is to the tune of Rs 5,10,000.

Adani Enterprises said that the acquisition is of a strategic nature in the interest of AMNL.

IANS was incorporated in India and registered with the Registrar of Companies, Delhi at Delhi on 26th December 1994. As of March 31, 2023, IANS has a turnover of Rs 11.85 crore.

Earlier in 2023, AMG Media bought Quintillion Media Ltd (QML) which operates one of the leading digital news channels BQ Prime. This soon followed the acquisition of broadcaster NDTV where Adani acquired a 65% stake.

Recently, Adani announced that in the last six months, it has lowered net debt by 3.6% and raised cash reserves by 13.7%, all while delivering an all-time high half yearly profit (EBITDA - earnings before interest tax and depreciation) growth of 47%. Notably, over 80% of the EBITDA is contractual and 68% of EBITDA is A+ rated, thus providing the highest level of stability and multi-decadal cashflow visibility.

These strong cashflows have allowed unconstrained investments as reflected by the increase in asset base to Rs 4.48 lakh crore (USD 54 billion), it said.

It added, equity deployment is at 59.8% of the total asset base, much higher than industry standards. Adani Portfolio is committed to building a world-class infrastructure and utility platform.

Also, further it said, in the first half of fiscal year 2024, the Adani Portfolio of companies demonstrated a robust financial performance while further enhancing its strong credit profile.