Zee-Sony merger back in play as NCLT agrees to hear shareholder appeal on March 12

30 Jan 2024 , 03:12 AM

Mad Men Film, a shareholder in Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited, has agreed to have the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) consider its request to implement the now-banned merger with the Indian division of Japanese company Sony Pictures Network.

According to a CNBC-TV18 article on January 30, Mad Men Film claimed that the two media businesses should move on with the plan, which would have created a $10 Billion media empire, as it was approved by the NCLT.

Sony has been given a three-week deadline by the NCLT to respond to the petition.

It rejected its claim that the NCLT’s permission was subject to a number of requirements that had to be met or explicitly waived in writing.

The new date of the case’s hearing is March 12.

The merger was called off by Sony on January 22. Zee’s inability to meet some financial criteria of the agreement and devise a strategy to resolve them was a contributing factor in the decision, according to Reuters news agency. It looked over the notice of termination.

It stated that Zee refuted the claims and charged the Japanese business of acting in ‘bad faith’ when it decided to halt the merger.

A portion of Zee’s public shareholders have written to the firm, according to Moneycontrol, asking for information on the sequence of events that resulted in the termination of the merger deal.

On news that an emergency arbitration hearing on the now-junk merger will take place in Singapore on January 31, the Zee stock shot up 8.9 % in the morning.

According to CNBC-TV18, on January 24, Zee filed a motion to move Sony Pictures before the NCLT and the Singapore International Arbitration Centre.

The stock was up 5.13 % from the previous closing at ₹ 170.05 at 1:22 pm.

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