- The Company is seeking to sell up to 16.5% of ZEEL’s interest to financial shareholders in order to repay loan obligations to certain creditors
- Earlier this year, the Essel Group sold up to 11% to the Invesco Oppenheimer Developing Markets Fund for Rs 4,224 crore in Zee Entertainment.
- Zee was founded in 1992 by Subhash Chandra, considered to be the founder of the television entertainment industry in India.
- The promoter stake in Zee Entertainment will be reduced to 5 percent after this transaction, which means that Subhash Chandra will lose control over Zee Entertainment Enterprises.
Media baron Subhash Chandra-led Essel Group, on Wednesday, said it is planning to sell a 16.5% stake in Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) to institutional investors to repay loan obligations to certain group lenders. The promoter stake in Zee Entertainment will be reduced to 5 percent after this transaction, which means that Subhash Chandra will lose control over Zee Entertainment Enterprises.
Zee was founded in 1992 by Subhash Chandra, considered to be the founder of the television entertainment industry in India. The company has extended operations to include packaging, transportation, health, precious metals, banking, and engineering sectors since the launch year.
The Company is seeking to sell up to 16.5% of ZEEL’s interest to financial shareholders in order to repay loan obligations to certain creditors of the Group for whom certain shares are already burdened (and who have consented to such stock sales by the Group),” said the Essel Group.
“Out of the above, the group seeks to sell approximately 2.3% of ZEEL’s stake to OFI Global China Fund, Llc and/or its affiliates,” he said. “According to the above-mentioned transactions, the group’s total post-transaction holdings in ZEEL will be approximately 5%, out of which the group’s burdened holdings will be reduced to approximately 1.1% of ZEEL,” he said.
Earlier this year, the Essel Group sold up to 11% to the Invesco Oppenheimer Developing Markets Fund for Rs 4,224 crore in Zee Entertainment.
Subhash Chandra’s Essel Group companies hold 22.37 percent of the promoter shares in Zee before the announcement on Wednesday. Of this, 21.48% were promised by companies of the Essel Group as protection against finances.
The debt was owed to asset managers and non-bank financial firms close to Rs 11,000 crore. Essel Group repaid half of the amount to Invesco Oppenheimer by share sales. Total promoter debt obligation as of the beginning of this month stood at Rs 7,000 crore, of which Rs 5,000 crore is owed to domestic lenders.
The promoter’s 5 percent stake in Zee will be the second largest after Invesco’s over 18 percent, depending on the final list of investors and the shares they purchase in this second divestment.
Post-transaction, Zee Entertainment’s overall promoter holdings will be 5 percent, from which the group’s burdened holdings will be reduced to 1.1 percent.
The Oppenheimer Developing Markets Fund and OFI Global China will hold 18.74 per cent together after the completion of the transaction announced on Wednesday.
ZEEL closed Wednesday’s BSE higher at Rs 307.15 percent by 7.89 percent.
