NEW DELHI: The Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has accepted a petition filed by a Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL) shareholder seeking implementation of the $10 billion merger between Sony and ZEEL.
The petition was filed by Mad Men Film Ventures, a shareholder of ZEEL. The bench has issued a notice directing Sony Pictures Network India, now known as Culver Max, to file a reply within three weeks.
The filing in the NCLT comes a week after Sony Group Corp, the parent company of Sony Picture Network India (SPNI) and Bangla Entertainment Pvt Ltd (BEPL) terminated the merger agreement with ZEEL and sought $90 million for breach of certain conditions.
Following this, ZEEL said that it would approach the NCLT and Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) to get the merger implemented and contest the $90 million penalty fee. The hearing for an emergency arbitration in the SIAC will take place on Wednesday.
The tribunal did not agree to the arguments made by the counsel stating that the approval by NCLT was conditional and depended on various conditions, which may be fulfilled or waived off in writing. NCLT has kept the next date of hearing on this matter on March 12.