Meanwhile, Sony India is going full steam ahead with its plans without Zee and said it is looking for both organic and inorganic growth opportunities in India
Days before Sony Group pulled the plug on the USD 10 billion deal, Zee group founder Subhash Chandra had written to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, blaming Sebi for trying to "scuttle" the merger of its flagship media firm Zee Entertainment Enterprise with the Japanese firm and subsequent investment in the merged entity. Alleging market regulator Sebi is "acting with a predetermined mind", the Zee group patriarch requested the finance minister to take the necessary steps "to safeguard the interest of the minority shareholders of ZEEL". Chandra in his letter dated January 16, seen by PTI, said ZEEL and all other people have been cooperating in the investigation related to the alleged fund diversion by promoters and expressed concern over a new notice issued by the market regulator to former directors of ZEEL. "My concern is the timing of this new notice, and the urgency of the same since it matches with the merger completion timeline of ZEE and Culver Max," he said. The notice
The company has also approached the National Company Law Tribunal seeking directions to implement the merger, Zee added
Zee is likely to counter Sony's claims in the Singapore International Arbitration Centre, including the demand for a $90 million termination fee
After the deal with Sony was terminated, nearly half a dozen brokerages downgraded Zee's stock while lowering the earnings multiple assigned to the cash-strapped company
What probably sank the deal was the insistence by Punit Goenka, Zee's chief executive officer, that he should lead the post-merger entity
Since the announcement of the merger, Zee shares have lost 30 per cent of their value
In a note, Elara has said the stock could slip to as low as Rs 130, while Nuvama Institutional Equities believes the stock could slip below Rs 200
Zee's seemingly endless legal issues mean no foreign company is likely to show interest in the firm
Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) spent Rs 366.59 crore on compliances till September 2023 for its now-failed merger with Sony, which called off the deal on Monday. The company had spent Rs 176.20 crore in the financial year that ended in March 2023. Besides, it spent Rs 190.39 crore in the first six months of the current fiscal, according to a regulatory filing by the Subhash Chandra family-promoted media entity. After signing an agreement, ZEEL was racing to receive a series of regulatory clearances from SEBI, CCI, ROC, etc. It also got a go-ahead from the National Company Law Tribunal after receiving approvals from shareholders and creditors and closed all formalities for the merger. However, Sony Group Corp on Monday called off the USD 10 billion merger of its India unit with Zee Entertainment, following a stalemate over who will lead the merged entity, besides not satisfying other conditions for the merger. It sent a termination notice to Zee on the deal, which was ...
Culver Max and BEPL sent a termination notice with a $90 million fee to ZEEL after Sony cancelled the merger deal valued at $10 billion
Sony Group Corp has called off its merger with Zee after nearly two years of negotiating the $10 billion deal, which was set to become India's fourth-largest media house
Zee MD and CEO Punit Goenka has offered to step down from his chief executive role, ahead of the deadline for the merger deal on January 20
With India hardly being a hot destination for media investments, the twists and turns in the Sony-Zee merger deal is bad news for the industry
Discussions are still ongoing between the two sides and a resolution can still emerge before the deadline
The Float Run headphones are now available at Sony Center website and other e-commerce platforms at Rs 10,990
Blackstone Inc. will take a majority stake in a payment service provider under Sony Group Corp. for about $280 million, a person familiar with the matter said
The grace period, as well as the talks on a further deadline extension, are keeping hopes alive for a two-year-old transaction that has already seen ample drama and delays
Sony's games business was its largest unit by sales and the second-biggest contributor to operating profit after music in the last financial year
Sony-owned Insomniac Games' more than 1.3 million files, including game roadmaps, budgets and information about an upcoming "Wolverine" title, have been leaked online by the Rhysida ransomware group