NCLT dismisses IDBI Bank's insolvency plea against Zee Entertainment

The National Company Law Tribunal on Friday dismissed IDBI Bank's insolvency plea against Zee Entertainment Enterprises to recover dues of Rs 149.60 crore. The bench that announced the verdict consisted of judicial member Kishore Vemulapalli and technical member Prabhat Kumar.

IDBI Bank had moved to the NCLT in December last year for the default of amount of Rs 149.60 crore that has been disputed by Zee Entertainment. This verdict is very important for the media company in its proposed merger with Culver Max Entertainment, formerly known as Sony Pictures Networks India.

Zee had started settlement talks with creditors

According to a report by Bloomberg that was published on April 20, Zee Entertainment had started settlement talks with the creditors in order to repay the debts. This would remove the last hurdle for the company's merger plans that would create a $10 billion media giant.

Media reports also claim that Zee had offered to prepay the loan of Rs 149 crore through tranches.

Zee to merge with Sony

Zee and Culver Max Entertainment had signed a definitive agreement to merge the two companies in December 2022. The agreement states that Sony will hold 50.86 per cent stake in the merged company whereas the promoters of Zee would hold 3.99 per cent and other shareholders of Zee would have 45.15 per cent stake in the company.