Punit Goenka says ZEE-Sony merger will go through

Amid speculations on the fate of the ZEE-Sony merger following SEBI’s interim order, Punit Goenka, Managing Director and CEO of ZEEL, while speaking to news publications, stressed that the merger will go through regardless of whether he is the CEO of the merged entity.

Goenka’s statement comes a day after Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) in a statement issued said, “We take very seriously the SEBI interim order and will continue to monitor developments that may affect the deal.”

In his interaction with the Economic Times, Goenka said that there were daily interactions between the ZEE and Sony teams as they were “in an advanced stage of integration”. He also expressed the hope of all merger formalities being completed by September this year.

As reported earlier, SEBI passed the interim order after investigations were carried out by the regulator, which revealed that both Subhash Chandra and Punit Goenka had abused their position as Directors and had siphoned off funds in 2019 for their own benefit. SEBI stated that this was done in a planned manner.

In an official statement issued, R Gopalan, Chairman, Zee Entertainment Enterprises, had said, “The Board is currently in the process of reviewing the detailed order, and appropriate legal advice is being sought in order to take the next steps as required.”

Following SEBI’s interim order, ZEE filed a petition challenging the order before the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT), where it contended that SEBI’s order would impact the hearing on its merger deal with Sony before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). Following ZEE’s petition, SAT asked SEBI to file its response within 48 hours.

The hearing on the ZEE-Sony merger deal before National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) is scheduled for June 26, 2023.