A gigantic merger that could have been one of India’s largest at a whopping $10 billion was called off recently. The parties involved, Sony and Zee, after having inked the merger agreement two years back saw it ending up on a bitter note. They are now caught up in a messy legal battle.
Sony has terminated the deal and alleged that Zee couldn’t meet certain financial conditions and breached the terms of merger agreement. It has demanded $90 million as termination fee and referred the matter to arbitration. Zee, denying all allegations, has accused Sony of acting in ‘bad faith’. Calling the termination wrongful and legally untenable, Zee wants the termination and $90 million claim withdrawn. Zee has approached National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to implement the merger, as it was approved by them. On Zee’s plea, NCLT has sought Sony’s response within three weeks.
Please click here or refer the below document to read the full article by Lalit Kumar, published in The Hindu Businessline.
Lalit is a corporate commercial, M&A and private equity lawyer with a vast experience of twenty-two years. He has successfully led large and complex transactions for Indian and global corporations.