The National Company Law Tribunal has approved the merger of television network giants Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd and Sony Pictures Networks India, which is known as Culver Max Entertainment.
The NCLT court bench headed by HV Subba Rao and Madhu Sinha gave the order which sets the tone for the creation of a $10 billion media firm. The tribunal also rejected the objections regarding the merger, PTI reported.
On July 11, the tribunal had reserved its order on the merger following hearing objections from several creditors including Axis Finance, JC Flower Asset Reconstruction Co., IDBI Bank, IDBI Trusteeship and Imax Corp.
In December 2021, Zee and Sony Pictures had agreed to merge their businesses, thereby moving the tribunal for sanctioning the merger following permissions from the National Stock Exchange, Bombay Stock Exchange, Competition Commission of India and market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
Zee Entertainment and SONY logos. (REUTERS)
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Several creditors of Essel Group had also raised objections against the non-compete clauses added to the scheme. Both the stock markets NSE and BSE had informed the NCLT bench of two orders related to the Essel Group entities wherein two of its promoters allegedly diverted funds from the listed entity for the benefit of their associate entities.
Zee shares hit 52-week high
After the report of Zee-Sony merger nod spread like wildfire, the shares of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) witnessed a massive jump in the prices in the last hour of today's session. The share price hiked from intra-day low of ₹239.05 per share to intra-day high of ₹290.70 per share within few minutes of the news. The share price ended at ₹290.50 at closure of the market.
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