Zee Entertainment Enterprises Gets Shareholders’ Green Light to Raise Up to Rs 2,000 Crore Through Securities Issue

Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL) has received shareholders’ approval to raise Rs 2,000 crore through the issuance of securities, the company announced in a filing on Monday. Out of the total votes cast, 78.83% were in favour of the resolution, while 21.16% were against it.

The announcement was made after market hours, and the stock ended at Rs 160.34 on the NSE on Monday, up by Rs 4.84 or 3.11% over the closing price on Friday.

Zee Entertainment shares have been lagging in the market, with their price declining by over 30% in the past 12 months. On a year-to-date basis, the drop has been even steeper at 44%.

The steady decline in Zee’s share price was mainly due to the failure of the company’s merger deal with Sony. Sony Group withdrew from the agreement to merge its India operations with Zee, scrapping a two-year-old plan that aimed to create a $10 billion media giant. The Japanese entertainment firm had made multiple filings to India’s National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to pull out of the merger pact with Zee.

Sony sent a termination notice to Zee on January 22, claiming that Zee failed to meet the merger agreement conditions and seeking $90 million in break-up fees. Zee “categorically” denied that it had breached the pact announced in December 2021. This was followed by the termination of ZMCL’s CEO Abhay Ojha in May. The company, however, did not elaborate on the reasons for his termination, according to a PTI report.