Axis Finance, IDBI Bank & IDBI Trusteeship Services have withdrawn their petitions before the appellate tribunal National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) filed against the NCLT order approving the merger of Zee Entertainment with Sony Pictures Networks India.
The NCLAT allowed the withdrawal of the petitions noting that the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) earlier this month had already recalled its earlier order of August 10, 2023, approving the merger of Zee Entertainment with Sony Pictures Networks India.
NCLT had recalled the order after ZEE applied for withdrawal. It had submitted the Composite Scheme the Merger Cooperation Agreement executed to give effect to this scheme stands terminated and accordingly, the closing date has not occurred and the scheme has not attained any effectiveness.
On August 27, ZEE Entertainment and Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI) announced settling their six-month-long dispute related to the failed $ 10-billion merger and have agreed to withdraw all claims against each other.
The Mumbai Bench of NCLT had earlier on August 10, 2023, approved the merger of ZEEL and Sony, which could have created a $ 10.5 billion media entity in the country.
IDBI Bank and Axis Finance had challenged the August 10, 2023, order of the Mumbai bench of the NCLT. NCLT in its approval order had dismissed some applications moved by financial institutions opposing the move, including IDBI Trusteeship, IDBI Bank, Axis Finance, JC Flowers Asset Reconstruction Co, and Imax Corp.
This was challenged by IDBI and Axis Finance before NCLAT.
Sony had pulled out from the proposed $10.5-billion merger with ZEE Entertainment Enterprises Ltd in January this year citing failure to meet certain “closing conditions” by the Indian firm.
Sony sought a $90 million termination fee on account of alleged breaches by Zee Entertainment of the terms of the merger agreement. Zee had sought termination fee of $90 million (Rs 750 crore) from SPNI and its entity Bangla Entertainment Pvt Ltd. (BEPL) in May.
