Sony Group and Zee Entertainment Enterprises have entered into a discussion to extend the deadline for merging their India operations, news agency Bloomberg said. Two days back Sony Pictures Networks India said it has not yet agreed to a deadline extension requested by Zee Entertainment Enterprises for their merger, and is looking forward to know how the latter planned to complete the remaining critical closing conditions.
According to the report, if the deal goes through Sony-Zee merger will create a $10 billion media behemoth.
Sony Pictures in a statement on Tuesday said, "ZEE's notice to the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India dated December 17 is an acknowledgement that they will not be able to meet the December 21, 2023 deadline to close the SPNI/ZEE merger. The notice triggers an existing contractual provision in the deal that allows for both parties to discuss the possibility of extending the deadline. SPNI is required to start those conversations but has not yet agreed to a deadline extension. We look forward to hearing ZEE’s proposals and how they plan to complete the remaining critical closing conditions."
ZEE, the Mumbai-based entertainment firm, on Wednesday said that it had received communication from Sony and they will enter into negotiations “in good faith” and “with a view to discuss the extension of the date required to make the scheme effective by a reasonable period of time.”
The extension gives a lease of life to the two-year-old merger proposal as the two sides sort out their differences and close a transaction that has already seen ample delays. Zee requested for an extension in a December 17 filing but Sony said Tuesday that it wanted to hear Zee’s proposals on completing the “remaining critical closing conditions.”
Negotiations between the two companies ran into a hurdle over the past few weeks as differences cropped up on who’ll lead the new merged entity. ZEE was insisting that its Chief Executive Officer Punit Goenka will helm it, as agreed in the 2021 pact, while Sony was wary given an ongoing regulatory probe against Goenka.