Zee Entertainment falls 9% after Subhash Chandra resigns as chairman

Zee said Chandra would continue to "mentor" the management, coming at a time when the promoter family has retained management control with only 5.9 per cent stake in the company

Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL) slumped 9 per cent to Rs 312.50 in Tuesday's early morning deals on the BSE after its founder Subhash Chandra stepped down as the company's chairman. 

Chandra becomes non-executive director with immediate effect. The decision was taken following a board meet on Monday.

Zee has also reconstituted its board, appointing three new independent directors — former IAS officer R Gopalan, retired IPS officer Surendra Singh, and art collector Aparajita Jain. The reconstituted board consists of six independent directors and two members from Essel Group.

"The reconstitution of the board was to strengthen and induct independent members with varied experiences to build value and provide a strong signal to the existing and new institutional investors who have recently reposed their faith in the intrinsic value of the Company, by investing Rs 4,770 crore," ZEEL said in a press release.

Zee said Chandra would continue to “mentor” the management, coming at a time when the promoter family has retained management control with only 6 per cent stake in the company.

Financial investors, including GIC, BlackRock, HSBC Global, Fidelity India, SBI Mutual Fund and Reliance Mutual Fund, brought 15.7 per cent of the promoter’s stake in Zee for Rs 4,343 crore on Thursday.

Over 20 million equity shares of ZEEL exchanged hands on the NSE and BSE combined, data showed. At 9:54 AM, the stock was trading 6 per cent lower at Rs 324.45 as compared to 0.45 per cent gain in the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex.

Shares of Dish TV India also dipped 3 per cent lower to Rs 15.75 on the BSE. at 9:57 am, the stock had pared some losses to trade 1.17 per cent lower at Rs 16.06.