New Delhi: The US-based fund Invesco Oppenheimer Wednesday agreed to pick up an additional 11% in the fund-starved Zee Group flagship Zee Entertainment Enterprises (Zee) for Rs 4,224 crore.
The equity will be picked up by the Atlanta-based global fund house's Developing Markets Fund, which already owns 7.74% in the company, a company statement said. Invesco Oppenheimer has been a financial investor in Zee since 2002.
"Invesco Oppenheimer Developing Markets Fund has agreed to make an additional investment in Zee. It has agreed to buy up to an 11% stake more in Zee from the promoters, for Rs 4,224 crore," it said in a statement.
The promoters, who have been since last November trying pare their stake by even half, own 35.79 percent in Zee as of June 2019, of which 63.98% has been pledged with mutual funds and other financial institutions. Following this deal, promoter stake will come down to around 23%.
As per media reports, the promoters' stake is estimated to be around Rs 13,000 crore at current market price with market capitalization of Rs 34,717.3 crore at a closing price of Rs 361.45 Wednesday.
From last year, the Essel Group was trying to divest its key assets, with an aim to repay all the lenders by September 2019. The group claimed that during the divestment process, it received positive response from multiple partners expressing interest to buy the stake in Zee and the other key non-media assets.
