Zee announces Nov 11 as board meeting date to announce Q2 earnings

The company had cancelled October 27 board meet citing lack of quorum

Zee Entertainment on Wednesday announced November 11 as board meeting date to announce earnings.

The company, which has been immersed in a legal battle with its largest shareholder, had cancelled October 27 board meet citing lack of quorum.

"ZEE ENTERTAINMENT ENTERPRISES LTD.has informed BSE that the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company will be held on Thursday, November 11, 2021, inter alia, to consider and approve the unaudited financial results of the Company both on standalone and consolidated basis for the 2nd quarter and half year ended September 30, 2021," the company said in a stock exchange filing. 

ZEEL's single-largest shareholders Invesco Developing Markets Fund (formerly Invesco Oppenheimer Developing Markets Fund) and OFI Global China Fund LLC, which together hold 17.88 per cent, have been pressing for an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders for removing Managing Director Punit Goenka, besides opposing ZEEL's proposed merger deal with Pictures Network India (SPNI).

Two independent board members–Manish Chokhani and Ashok Kurien - had resigned from the company last month after the allegations from Invesco and OFI Global China Fund LLC.

Presently, there are nine members on the board of ZEEL, which include Chairperson R Gopalan and CEO & MD Punit Goenka.

Besides, ZEEL has four independent director - Piyush Pandey, Alicia Yi, Sasha Gulu Mirchandani and Vivek Mehra - on its board.

The ZEEL board turned down the requisition of Invesco and OFI Global China Fund LLC to call for EGM.

After that, the shareholders moved the Mumbai Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal and subsequently, ZEEL has also approached the Bombay High Court filing a suit against the requisition.

Later the episode turned into an ugly public spat, spilling beyond the board room with Invesco and ZEE levelling allegations against each other.

On October 14, Goenka had said he would continue to take required steps to safeguard the company and its future under the guidance of its board, despite Invesco seeking his removal from office.

Breaking his silence after almost a month of boardroom war, Goenka questioned the intention of Invesco while pointing fingers at investment firm over the corporate governance for not making public a proposed deal with Reliance Industries earlier.

Earlier Invesco had said it had only facilitated talks for a possible deal between Reliance and ZEEL.

Meanwhile, the Bombay High Court last week granted an interim injunction against ZEEL largest shareholder Invesco, restraining the latter from going ahead with the requisition of an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) seeking removal of the ZEEL MD and CEO Punit Goenka.