The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Monday rejected the Securities Appellate Tribunal’s (SAT) interim relief to Subhash Chandra, the chairman of Essel Group, and Punit Goenka, the managing director and CEO of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL).
The SAT had on June 24 granted interim relief to Chandra and Goenka, barring them from selling their shares in ZEEL for a period of six months. The SAT had also directed SEBI to not take any coercive action against Chandra and Goenka during this period.
However, SEBI in its order on Monday said that it was not satisfied with the SAT’s order and that it had “serious doubts” about the findings of the SAT. SEBI said that the SAT had not considered all the relevant facts and that its order was “prima facie erroneous”.
SEBI’s order is a major setback for Chandra and Goenka, who have been trying to sell their shares in ZEEL to raise funds. The sale of their shares was necessary for Chandra and Goenka to repay loans that they had taken from banks and other financial institutions.
The rejection of the SAT’s interim relief by SEBI is also a major setback for the merger of ZEEL with Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI). The merger of ZEEL with SPNI was conditional on Chandra and Goenka selling their shares in ZEEL.
With the rejection of the SAT’s interim relief, it is unclear whether the merger of ZEEL with SPNI will go through. SPNI has said that it is still committed to the merger, but it is not clear whether it will be able to complete the merger without the sale of Chandra and Goenka’s shares.
The rejection of the SAT’s interim relief by SEBI is a major blow to Chandra and Goenka. It is also a major setback for the merger of ZEEL with SPNI. It remains to be seen whether the merger will go through, but the chances of it happening have been significantly reduced.
Here are some of the key points from SEBI’s order:
- SEBI said that it was not satisfied with the SAT’s order because the SAT had not considered all the relevant facts.
- SEBI said that it had “serious doubts” about the findings of the SAT.
- SEBI said that the SAT’s order was “prima facie erroneous”.
- SEBI’s order is a major setback for Chandra and Goenka.
- SEBI’s order is also a major setback for the merger of ZEEL with SPNI.
It remains to be seen whether the merger of ZEEL with SPNI will go through. However, the chances of it happening have been significantly reduced.