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Senior Advocate Darius Khambata, representing Sony, opposed the application and stated that Mad Man had already agreed to the conditions mentioned in the scheme and voted in favour of the scheme
Mad Man Ventures Films Ltd, a shareholder of Zee Entertainment Enterprise, has approached the National Company Law Tribunal to restrain Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zee) and Sony Pictures India Networks (now Culver Max) from acting contrary to the merger scheme approved by the NCLT.
A division bench of Judicial Member Lakshmi Gurang and Technical Member Charanjeet Singh Gulati refused to grant urgent interim relief to Mad Man and stated that it will call for a reply from the respondents.
“This issue has to be adjudicated. What is going to happen till March 12? We are not in favour of granting relief to you right now. Granting relief now will lead to allowing the petition,” the tribunal said.
The $10 Billion merger between Zee and Sony was announced on 21st December 2021. The scheme was approved by the National Company Law Tribunal in August 2023. However, Sony recently called off the merger.
Earlier, the same bench of NCLT had also issued notice in a petition filed by Mad Men Films Ventures, a shareholder of Zee, seeking directions to implement the merger.
Recently, on February 4th, the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) also refused interim relief to Sony. Sony had approached the SIAC to prevent Zee from approaching NCLT seeking legal remedies.
Other than Mad Man Ventures, Zee has filed another petition before the NCLT seeking to implement the merger. The NCLT has also issued a notice in Zee's petition.
Senior Advocate Mustafa Doctor, representing Mad Man, argued that even if the arbitration proceedings were continued, the scheme could not be set aside.
Doctor urged the NCLT to only pass a restraining order against the respondent for not taking any steps contrary to the approved scheme pending his application.
“What is this anxiety? I am opposing their locus to come here. The court has rightly observed that there are conditions (of scheme) that were required to be satisfied. When they voted in favour of the scheme, they agreed (to all conditions). But now they are trying to rewrite the scheme,” Khambata said.
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