According to reports, Sony Group Corp. has scheduled a board meeting for today to discuss whether to merge with Zed Enterprises for $10 billion. According to an ET report, there will be two important meetings where a decision will be made. According to ET, Sony is probably going to back out of the agreement if ZED MD and CEO Puneet Goenka doesn't approve of the proposed merger terms.
Punit Goenka proposed to step down as chief executive of the combined company during talks between ZED and Sony Pictures Networks India Private Limited. The goal of the Sony-Zee merger was to build a media conglomerate with the financial clout to compete with both regional titans like Reliance and worldwide giants Netflix Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. It is said that Sony is not interested in any hostile takeover.
If the deal doesn't happen by January 20, ZED may sue Culver Max Entertainment for damages, according to a report.
According to reports, Zed had to abandon a number of profitable projects in order to comply with the merger requirements set forth by the Competition Commission of India (CCI). Zed will suffer a significant loss if the transaction falls through at this point.
Zee's founder, Subhash Chandra, allegedly staged the recovery of loans in order to mask private funding agreements, according to allegations made by the Securities and Exchange Board of India in June. In an interim decision, SEBI stated that Chandra and his son Goenka had "abused their position" by syphoning off cash. As a result, Goenka is not eligible to be appointed as an executive or director in listed firms.
Sony sees the ongoing investigation as a matter of corporate governance, even if Goenka received a respite from an appeal authority regarding the Sebi ruling.
The planned merger called for Goenka's family to own 3.99% of the combined media company, with Sony Pict ures Networks India Pvt. holding a 50.86% interest. Nearly all regulatory clearances for the proposed merger have been obtained, and it would have aided in the growth of Sony's media company in the most populated nation on earth.
