Billionaire Adani becomes NDTV's biggest shareholder

Indian billionaire Gautam Adani's conglomerate on Monday raised its stake in New Delhi Television Ltd to more than 37% through an open offer, making it the biggest shareholder of one of the country's most popular news networks.

Although Adani's group was looking to take another 26% stake in NDTV, the open offer attracted bids for just 5.3 million shares, translating to an 8.3% interest in the company, reports Reuters.

Last week, Adani acquired a stake of about 29.2% in NDTV by buying a company backed by the television network's founders, Radhika Roy and Prannoy Roy, who have a 32.3% stake in NDTV.

The ports-to-energy conglomerate's takeover of NDTV has raised fears among some journalists that one of the country's last bastions of free media is under threat.