Punit Goenka in Ayodhya, says aborted Zee-Sony merger deal is a ‘sign from the Lord’

The Japanese entertainment giant also sought a termination fee of $90 million from Zee Entertainment citing alleged breaches by the company.

“Although we engaged in good faith discussions to extend the end date under the merger cooperation agreement, we were unable to agree upon an extension by the January 21 deadline. After more than two years of negotiations, we are extremely disappointed that the closing conditions of the merger were not satisfied by the end date,” Sony said in its notice.

Zee, however, refuted all claims and asserted that it has not breached the terms of the merger agreement. It added that the company is actively evaluating available options to address the situation.

It must be noted that initiated in 2021, the $10 billion merger discussions were slated for completion by December 21, 2023. The deal encountered various delays, including regulatory obstacles and legal actions by creditors against the company.

Amid reports of contention between the two parties over the leadership of the proposed merged entity, Zee has stated, “Punit Goenka, MD and CEO of ZEEL, was agreeable to step down in the interest of the merger and proposals in this regard were discussed, including for appointment of a director on the Board of the merged company, protections for conduct of pending investigations and legal proceeedings in the best interest of ZEEL’s directors and shareholders and the consequent modifications to the scheme to incorporate the same.

The Indian media firm claims that it had proposed an extension of a maximum period of six months for consummation of the transaction, however, Culver Max (formerly known as Sony Pictures Networks India Private Limited) did not provide any counter proposal for extension.

“These discussions did not result in any proposal from Sony but they rather have chosen to terminate,” it said.