Investigation
Looks like a loan, walks like equity? Tale of two landmark media deals
Years after the investments, details of the Network18 deal have been called for before the Sebi to justify Reliance’s INR350 crore NDTV loan.
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Prannoy Roy, Co-founder, NDTV; Vipin Kumar/Hindustan Times via Getty Images
It was altogether a new world after the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008 — credit flow froze across the globe, markets crashed, and financial hardship was the new normal. Two Delhi journalists, who had taken their respective firms public during the preceding boom years and had diversified into several areas, were facing the heat, too. As share
to and the terms of the second supplementary agreement. An e-mail sent to Prannoy and Radhika Roy on June 5 seeking details on the call-option agreement and the show-cause notice did not elicit any response. NDTV shares closed at INR 33.25 per share on Wednesday, a fraction of what they were valued at in the loan and call-option agreements.
