Completion of the India merger pushed to the end of 2023.
Sony Group has said that the completion of the India merger between Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) and Culver Max Entertainment, which is Sony Pictures Networks India, will take a few more months. The much-awaited merger was previously expected by the end of September.
Although several lenders of ZEEL, including IDBI Trusteeship, IDBI Bank, Axis Finance, JC Flowers Asset Reconstruction Co and Imax Corp, had raised objections around the merger, it was approved by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on August 10, 2023. One of the key conditions of the merger is that Zee’s MD Punit Goenka would continue as the MD and CEO of the merged entity.
The merger was first announced in December 2021 and will bring together over 70 TV channels, two video streaming services (Zee5 and SonyLiv) and two film studios (Zee Studios and Sony Pictures Films India).
Karan Taurani, SVP/research at brokerage Elara Capital, said: “The record date for a merger is usually given one week prior to delisting. However, there could be a marginal delay in filing closing precedents (CPs) of the merged entity. Subsequently, relisting may happen in the second week of December 2023 versus the second week of November”.
