SIAC denies Sony’s plea to restrain Zee from approaching NCLT for enforcing merger

New Delhi: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd on Sunday said the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) has denied Sony Group’s plea seeking a restrain against the Indian media company’s move to the NCLT for enforcing the merger that was called off by the Japanese company’s Indian arm.

An Emergency Arbitrator of SIAC 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 had 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 $90 million (around Rs 748.5 cr) as a termination fee.

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

ZEEL had also initiated appropriate legal actions to contest the claims of $90 million filed by Sony Group before SIAC. It asserted that Culver Max and BEPL, which were to be merged with ZEEL, “are in default of their obligations to give effect to” and implement the scheme of merger that was sanctioned by the NCLT.