Vishvapradhan Commercial Pvt. Ltd (VCPL) has appointed Indian journalist Senthil Chengalvarayan as independent director. The Adani owned entity VCPL announced yesterday in regulatory filings that Sanjay Pugalia, Senthil Chengalvarayan and Sudipta Bhattacharya have been onboarded as independent directors on its board. It is to be noted that Sanjay Pugalia is CEO of AMG Media Networks Ltd.
Senthil Chengalvarayan, is a trusted name in Indian business news journalism. A doyen of the industry with over 35 years of experience, Chengalvarayan was the founding editor of CNBC TV18 and then the Editor-in-Chief of Network 18’s Business News Room. Chengalvarayan also sits on the board of Quintillion Business Media as an independent director.
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Recently, Adani Enterprises announced that its wholly owned subsidiary Adani Media Networks acquired Vishvapradhan from Eminent Networks and Nextwave Televentures—entities linked to entrepreneur Mahendra Nahata. VCPL owned convertible debentures (warrants that provide for the conversion of debt to equity) in RRPR Holding Pvt. Ltd that in turn owned 29.18% of NDTV Ltd. On Tuesday evening, Adani’s media unit AMG Media Networks Ltd exercised its rights to convert the outstanding loan to NDTV’s holding company, resulting in acquisition of a 29.18% stake in NDTV. Post this, Adani plans to launch an open offer to buy another 26% stake from shareholders. This will be the second media company that Gautam Adani steps into. In March, Adani Group bought a 49% stake in local digital business news platform Quintillion, which operates the business platform The Quint, thereby bringing his acquisition in the media industry to two companies.
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