ZEEL hits new high

Zee Entertainment is very much in the limelight today morning, figuring among the top five gainers, going on to hit a new 52-week high at Rs.319.50 from its close of yesterday at Rs.255.65, rising 25%. Its 30% UC for the day is at Rs.332.30.

Ten years ago, no one would have ever imagined in their wildest dreams that two arch rivals, Zee will merge into Sony.

Today morning, Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI) and Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. (ZEEL) announced that they are going to merge their operations.

Zee will own 47.07% stake in the merged entity, the balance 52.93% will be held by SPNI shareholders. Zee’s promoter family will hold 4%, which can be increased to 20%.

The shareholders of SPNI will also infuse growth capital into SPNI as part of the merger such that SPNI has approximately USD1.575 billion at closing, for use in pursuing other growth opportunities.

ZEEL & SPNI have entered into a non-binding term sheet to combine both companies' linear networks, digital assets, production operations and program libraries. The term sheet provides an exclusive period of 90 days during which ZEEL and SPNI will conduct mutual diligence and finalize definitive agreement(s). The merged entity will be a publicly listed company in India.

As part of the transaction, Mr. Punit Goenka will continue to be the Managing Director and CEO of the merged entity. Further, certain non-compete arrangements will be agreed upon between the promoters of ZEEL and the promoters of SPNI.