Subhash Chandra, chairman emeritus of Zee Leisure Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL), accused Madhabi Puri Buch Chairman of Securities and Trade Board (SEBI) of scuttling the Sony-ZEEL merger.
In a press convention on September 2, Chandra termed Buch “corrupt” and “vindictive” and alleged that Zee’s points with SEBI was “predominant purpose” behind the merger’s failure.
“SEBI has not been appearing within the curiosity of traders of ZEE Leisure. ZEE Sony merger was progressing nicely and so they had received SEBI/ Inventory trade approval. Regardless of the identical, SEBI instructed BSE/NSE to intervene in NCLT proceedings and scuttle the merger by spooking Sony. Finally the merger was terminated by Sony which resulted in erosion of giant wealth of minority shareholders,” Chandra alleged.
“I’m satisfied that the SEBI chairperson is corrupt since she and her husband, whose mixed revenue was round Rs 1 crore every year earlier than she assumed the place at SEBI, has now gone as much as Rs 40-50 crore every year. This must be investigated by the media and investigating companies, together with an evaluation of the settled and compounded instances and the session charges paid by such corporates and acquired by the SEBI chairperson and her linked individuals. These are some ways she and her husband extort cash from corporates and inventory market corrupt operators and fund managers,” he alleged.
Within the press convention, Chandra stated, “On twenty fifth January 2019 on the day when ZEE shares plunged by 33% and we couldn’t pay the margin name, I issued an Open Letter which alluded to the truth that:
• All working corporations of the Group have been performing exceptionally nicely and have been beneath no stress by any means.
• The letter additionally defined the explanations for elevated debt publicity at Group stage. For example, investments made in Essel Infra, Acquisition of D2H, and so forth.
• The letter additional acknowledged that from Could / June 2018, damaging forces have been appearing in opposition to the Group. We wrote quite a lot of complaints to SEBI, different involved authorities to analyze, nonetheless all our eZorts didn’t lead to any motion.
• On this letter, I urged the lenders to take care of persistence and warranted them that I’ll positively have the ability to pay the lenders dues; as soon as the method of ZEE stake sale is full.
“I’ve been knowledgeable that if one will get an entry to the communications and messages between linked individuals like Chanda Kochhar and Madhabi Puri Buch, their modus operandi might be out in open. It was Chanda Kochhar and her husband; and Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband; working in tandem, therefore Madhabi Puri Buch was paid hefty sums of cash by ICICI whereas she was the Complete Time Member at SEBI,” he added.
Enterprise As we speak has reached out to SEBI chief and the copy might be up to date along with her response when it’s made accessible.
Zee-Sony merger deal
The NCLT on August 10, 2023, had accepted the merger of Zee Leisure and Sony Footage Networks India, paving the best way for the creation of a $10-billion media big within the nation.
In January 2024, the merger between Sony and Zee was known as off as a result of disagreements over greater than 20 compliance points. The disagreement concerned points akin to Zee’s failure to get rid of sure Russian belongings and its $1.4 billion cricket rights cope with Disney.
One of many main causes the failed deal being derailed was the dearth of consensus over who would head the merged entity. Whereas ZEEL MD and CEO Punit Goenka earlier agreed upon because the candidate to be on the helm of the merged firm, Sony reportedly sought a reconsideration after Goenka got here beneath a SEBI probe.
As of June 2024, promoters maintain 3.99 p.c stake in Zee Leisure Enterprises, FIIs maintain 18.91 p.c, DIIs maintain 22.51 p.c and the general public shareholding stood at 54.59 p.c.
