Sony's plea seeking to restrain Zee over merger denied

Zee Entertainment denies Sony's plea to restrain them from enforcing a merger called off by Sony.

Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd on Sunday said the Singapore Arbitration Centre has denied Sony Group's plea seeking to restrain the Indian media company from approaching the NCLT to enforce a merger that was called off by the Japanese company's Indian arm.

An Emergency Arbitrator of Singapore International Arbitration Centre denied the interim relief sought by Culver Max and BEPL (Bangla Entertainment Pvt Ltd) to restrain Zee Entertainment Enterprise Ltd (ZEEL), observing it lacks jurisdiction to pass such an order, ZEEL stated in a filing to stock exchanges.

"We wish to inform that the Emergency Arbitrator has passed an award dated February 4, 2024, denying the application for emergency interim relief filed by Culver Max and BEPL and has determined that the Emergency Arbitrator has no jurisdiction or authority to injunct the Company from approaching the NCLT to implement the Merger Scheme since these are matters which fall within the statutory system and are for the NCLT to decide," it added.

Sony last month terminated the merger agreement with ZEEL to merge its two Indian entities - Culver Max Entertainment (earlier known as Sony Pictures Network India) and BEPL.

Sony Group Corporation (SGC) had said ZEEL did not satisfy the merger conditions and initiated arbitration proceedings before SIAC claiming $90mn as a termination fee.

ZEEL filed a petition before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), seeking a direction to Sony group to implement the merger scheme.