Zee cancels board meeting due to lack of quorum

Media major Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) has cancelled its board meeting, scheduled to be held on Wednesday for considering the results for the July-September quarter, due to lack of quorum.

In a regulatory filing on Tuesday, ZEEL said, "A meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company, which was scheduled to be held on Wednesday, October 27, 2021, inter alia, to consider and approve the unaudited financial results of the Company both on a standalone and consolidated basis for the 2nd quarter and half year ended September 30, 2021, has been cancelled due to lack of quorum.”

The development comes at a time when the company is battling it out the single-largest shareholders Invesco Developing Markets Fund (formerly Invesco Oppenheimer Developing Markets Fund) and OFI Global China Fund LLC that together hold 17.88 per cent and 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.

"The next date of the meeting will be duly informed with fresh notice," the company said.

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 on Tuesday granted an interim injunction against Zee Entertainment Enterprise Ltd's (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.

A detailed court order is awaited.

Photograph: Francis Mascarenhas/Reuters