Amid calls for Board rejig, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala picks up stake in ZEEL

Rare Enterprises, the private equity investment and asset management firm of well known investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, has bought 50 lakh shares of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd for an estimated sum of Rs 110.22 crore. The shares were bought in a bulk deal on National Stock Exchange.

Meanwhile, Bank of America Securities Europe SA also bought 48.6 lakh shares of ZEEL in a bulk deal for an estimated sum of Rs 115 crore.

The ZEEL Board is currently witnessing a face-off between two of its largest investors – Invesco Developing Markets Fund and OFI Global China Fund – and the current management of ZEE. The investors have sought a reconstitution of the Board and called for the removal of MD and CEO Punit Goenka as Director, along with the removal of two other Directors – Manish Chokhani and Ashok Kurien. Following this, Chokhani and Kurien have resigned as Non-Executive Non-Independent Directors of the company with effect from September 13, 2021, which was noted at the ZEE AGM held yesterday (September 14, 2021).

Along with this, the investors also sought the appointment on six new independent directors.

At the AGM, R Gopalan, Chairman, ZEEL, informed the Members that Sasha Mirchandani and Vivek Mehra have been appointed as Independent Directors of the company.