The National Company Law Tribunal approved the merger between Sony India and Zee on Thursday. Quashing all the objections, the Mumbai bench of NCLT said that the deal must not be held ransom by the case pending with market watchdog SEBI. This NCLT nod will pave way for a new media giant in India.
The decision comes exactly a month after NCLT reserved its verdict regarding the merger between Culver Max Entertainment and Zee Entertainment. Culver Max is the new name of Sony Pictures Networks India. The Sony-Zee merger, which was signed two years ago in 2021, has already received compulsory clearances from both Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange as well as the Competition Commission of India. Zee stocks were trading in green with a surge of 15 per cent.
In its oral order, NCLT dismissed the objections lodged by creditors over the merger scheme. Latest reports say that the firm has already reached a settlement with IndusInd Bank, IDBI Bank and IPRS. The 2021 merger stated that Sony will indirectly hold a majority of 50.86 per cent of the combined entity.
The ZEEL founders, on the other hand, will hold 3.99 per cent. Other ZEEL shareholders will hold a 45.15 per cent stake in the merged entity, the December 2021 deal had said. The Sony-Zee merger, which was signed on December 21st, 2021 got the approval of the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange in July next year in 2022.
Subsequently, in October 5, 2022, CCI gave conditional nod to Sony-Zee merger. However, it had asked ZEEL to sell 3 Hindi channels — Zee Action, Big Magic and Zee Classic. The reason behind this was to take care of the possible anti-competition issues arising out of Sony-Zee mega deal. Earlier in June this year, Zee Entertainment CEO Punit Goenka had said that the mega merger with Sony India will ‘go through’. He said that the fate of the deal is not linked to his tenure as CEO of Zee.