Zee Entertainment's shares jump after Invesco sells 5.51% stake

The shares of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd made steady gains after Invesco Developing Markets Fund, which owns over 10.2 per cent stake in the company, sold over half its stake via pre-market block trade on Tuesday, 18 October. The US investment firm offloaded 5.51 per cent or 52.93 million shares for up to Rs 1,395.9 crore. The shares of Zee Entertainment rose as much as 5.5 per cent in early trade on Tuesday. At 12:14 pm, the shares were priced at Rs 273.70 on the Bombay Stock Exchange, up by 3.95 per cent.

Invesco, which held shares in Zee through the OFI Global China Fund, sold the shares at an average price of Rs 260 per equity. Kotak Securities was the sole broker for the secondary share sale.

This is not the first time Invesco has divested its stake from Zee. The US investment firm had sold 74.3 million shares of Zee or 7.74 per cent stake for Rs 2,092 crore in April. In March this year, the company had also gone back on its demand seeking the exit of managing director and chief executive Punit Goenka from ZEE’s board. Invesco had voiced its support for Zee’s proposed merger with Sony Pictures Networks India, bringing an end to months of legal standoff between the fund and the entertainment company.

There will be a 180-lock up period for Invesco after today’s block deal, meaning they will not be able to offload any more of their stake for six months.

Zee’s merger with Sony:

As for Zee’s proposed merger with Sony, the Competition Commission of India gave a conditional approval to the merger. The deal was approved by Zee’s shareholders last week. However, it is yet to receive a nod from the Income Tax authorities, Registrar of Companies, and the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting.

The merged entity will have a combined cash balance of $1.5 billion. Sony will hold 50.86 per cent, while the erstwhile promoters of the company will have about 4 per cent stake.

After the company is able to secure the required approvals, it will hold a demerger process and the existing shares will be delisted. The merged entity will relist on the stock exchanges, a process that is likely to occur in March next year.

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