Adani Group takes complete hold of IANS news agency
New Delhi: Adani Group, chaired by billionaire Gautam Adani, has completely taken hold of news agency IANS after purchasing the remaining 24 per cent stake, according to a stock exchange disclosure made on Friday. Though the financial terms were not revealed, it is known that the transaction was carried out through AMG Media Networks Limited, the media wing of Adani Enterprises.
Following the transaction, IANS India Private Limited has become a wholly owned step-down subsidiary of Adani Enterprises. The company said, “AMNL has executed a Share Purchase Agreement on January 21, 2026, to acquire the balance stake in IANS. Upon completion of the transaction, IANS shall become a wholly owned step-down subsidiary of the company.”
The Adani Group first entered with a majority stake of IANS in December 2023 with the acquisition of a 50.5 per cent stake. This was followed by a further increase in ownership in January 2024, when AMG Media Networks raised its holding to 76 per cent of the voting shares and nearly all of the non-voting shares. The latest transaction concludes the takeover through the purchase of the remaining shares.
Before this acquisition, AMG Media Networks held 76 per cent of Category I shares carrying voting rights and more than 99 per cent of Category II shares without voting rights. The company said the current deal covers the remaining 24 per cent of Category I shares and 0.74 per cent of Category II shares.
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Can't say when I'll return to India; legally barred from leaving UK: Mallya to Bombay HC
Mumbai (PTI): Fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya, facing multiple cases of fraud and money laundering, told the Bombay High Court on Wednesday that he cannot say when he will return to India as he is legally barred from leaving the UK.
In a statement submitted through his counsel Amit Desai to the high court, Mallya said he did not have an active passport after it was revoked and hence, he cannot give a definite date of return to India.
The statement was submitted after a bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad made it clear last week that it would not hear Mallya's plea against the order declaring a fugitive economic offender until he returns to India.
The court had then asked the former liquor to clarify whether or not he intended to return to India.
Mallya, based in the United Kingdom since 2016, has filed two petitions in the HC -- one challenging an order declaring him a fugitive economic offender and the other questioning the constitutional validity of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act.
The 70-year-old liquor baron is accused of defaulting on multiple loan repayments of several thousand crores and facing money laundering charges.
The businessman, in his statement to HC, said he cannot give a definite date for his return as he does not have his Indian passport, which was revoked by the government in 2016, and also because there are orders of courts in England and Wales that prohibit him from leaving the country.
"Mallya is not permitted to leave or attempt to leave England and Wales or apply for or be in possession of any international travel document. In any event, the petitioner is unable to precisely state when he will return to India," Desai read out the statement in the court.
The senior counsel reiterated that Mallya's presence was not required in the country for the court to hear his pleas against the fugitive tag and the provisions of the Act.
"If he (Mallya) were to appear in India, then all these proceedings would be rendered irrelevant as the statute says that once the offender appears in the concerned court of law, then all these orders would be set aside," Desai told the court.
The bench directed the Union government to file its reply to Mallya's statement and posted the matter for further hearing next month.
Mallya was declared a Fugitive Economic Offender in January 2019 by a special court hearing cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The businessman left India in March 2016.
