Zee-Sony merger: After IDBI Bank, Axis Finance files appeal against NCLT order

Non-banking financial company Axis Finance Ltd has filed an appeal against the NCLT order to approve the merger of Zee Entertainment Enterprise Ltd (ZEEL) with Culver Max Entertainment, formerly Sony Pictures Networks India.

The lender has moved the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) against the order.

This is the second financial creditor after private lender IDBI Bank, which has approached the order of the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).

Earlier, the NCLT on August 10, 2023, approved the proposed merger, which would create the largest media entity in the country.

According to a regulatory filing by ZEEL, it ‘has been served with an appeal on behalf of Axis Finance Ltd against the Company before the NCLAT, Delhi, challenging the order dated August 10, 2023, passed by NCLT, Mumbai Bench’.

NCLT had dismissed the application and approved the composite scheme of arrangement amongst Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited, Bangla Entertainment Private Limited and Culver Max Entertainment.

The tribunal had dismissed the objections raised by several lenders of ZEEL, including IDBI Trusteeship, IDBI Bank, Axis Finance, JC Flowers Asset Reconstruction Co and Imax Corp.

IDBI Bank is also contesting another matter against ZEEL before the NCLAT, in which the appellate tribunal has issued notice to the Subhash Chandra-family-led entertainment firm.

The private lender has challenged the NCLT order, which on May 19, rejected a plea to initiate insolvency proceedings against the media major.

In December 2021, Zee Entertainment and Sony Pictures agreed to merge their businesses.

Both media houses approached the tribunal for sanctioning the merger after obtaining permissions from the National Stock Exchange, BSE and sectoral regulators, such as the Competition Commission of India and the Securities and Exchange Board of India.