IDBI trusteeship moves NCLAT against Zee-Sony merger
The matter came up for hearing on Dec 1 and was deferred
IDBI Trusteeship Services Limited (ITSL) has filed an appeal at the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) against the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) giving an approval for the merger of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) and Sony. The NCLT had given the go-ahead for the merger after rejecting IDBI Trusteeship Services Limited’s objection to the merger.
The appeal came up for hearing on December 1, but it was deferred as the case was transferred to another bench.
In its appeal, IDBI Trusteeship Services Limited has claimed that Subhash Chandra had executed a personal guarantee in 2019 in favour of IDBI trusteeship guaranteeing the repayment obligations towards the debentures. However, the trusteeship company alleged that Chandra failed to comply with his obligations under the personal guarantee and thus he is a creditor. Furthermore, the trusteeship company claimed over Rs. 500 crore from Chandra.
ZEEL had opposed this objection contending that "IDBI Trusteeship is admittedly not a creditor of Zee, and so it has no right to object to the merger. The NCLT dismissed the objection reasoning that "having failed
in ensuring recovery of their alleged dues from other entities of Zee
through other legal proceedings are opposing this scheme of Zee as a last resort for their recoveries.
