Zee approaches NCLAT, seeks more time to respond

MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd on Wednesday approached an appellate tribunal in a fresh turn in the ongoing tussle with two of its institutional investors even as the company proceeds with a planned merger with Sony Group Corp.

Invesco Developing Markets Fund and OFI Global China Fund LLC, which own a combined 17.88% in Zee, have demanded a special shareholders’ meeting, which was rejected by the company’s board.

In the appeal to the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), Zee has sought more time to file its response to a ruling of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).

The Mumbai bench of NCLT on Tuesday directed the media firm to file its response in two days to a plea filed by its largest shareholder, Invesco.

“The company has moved to NCLAT in accordance with the due process available under the law. The company has also filed a suit in the Bombay high court to declare that the requisition notice sent by Invesco Developing Markets Fund and OFI Global China Fund LLC is invalid. The company continues to have full faith in the Indian judicial system and will take all the necessary steps that are in the best interests of all its shareholders,” a spokesperson for Zee said in a statement.

An NCLT division bench led by Bhaskara Pantula Mohan and Narender Kumar Bhola gave the company time till Thursday to file its response while Zee was seeking a few more days. This led the company to move NCLAT.

The unfolding corporate battle at Zee began after Invesco approached NCLT to direct the company’s board to hold an extraordinary general meeting to remove managing director and chief executive Punit Goenka as a director.

Meanwhile, Zee said a potential merger with the Indian unit of Sony Group is the best deal on the table, but India’s biggest private-sector TV network is open to offers from other bidders.

“This is the best deal for shareholders at this point in time as we are interested in the maximization of value for all our stakeholders, including shareholders, the company and the consuming public,” Zee chairman R. Gopalan said in a Bloomberg Television interview earlier in the day. Gopalan said the company is open to “consider if there is another deal on the table”.