Corporate Grapevine

Published: Aug 31, 2022
Updated: Aug 31, 2022

Will NDTV’s Prannoy Roy laugh his way to the bank?

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Prannoy Roy, who took a Rs 400-crore interest-free loan from a Mukesh Ambani entity, defaulted on the loan – and the rest, as they say, is history. Adani Enterprises, which took over the Ambani lending entity, has exercised his option to convert the shares of the promoter entity of NDTV and will get a 29.1 per cent stake.

Why Roy took an interest-free loan from Ambani and did not repay it raises questions of journalistic ethics as well as shows how the ‘party’ cannot last forever if an entity does not repay its debts.

Roy took the loan from Ambani and after a few years bought a house in South Africa. If insiders are to be believed, Roy is ‘posturing’ to get an additional Rs 100 crore money from Adani as a ‘control premium’ for his residual 33 per cent stake. Roy’s stake is already worth Rs 850 crore and, thanks to the buzz of an impending takeover, the stock has gone up by 435 per cent in one year.

Whatever be the outcome, this will be one of the few cases where a defaulter-promoter gets to make money and exit the company.