Sony Corp may buy a 20-25% stake in Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) worth Rs 13,000 crore, reports Mint. Sony would want at least 25%, which would give it promoter rights, it added. Zee and Sony declined to comment on the matter to the publication. Group chairman Subhash Chandra is looking to sell the stake for a premium of 30%, the report added, stating that Chandra wants to hold at least a 20% stake in the company. Mint’s source arrived at Rs 13,000 crore by stating that there were 940 million shares, at Rs 650 level, Chandra selling 19% would get the company Rs 13,000 crore. Mint reported that Reliance Industries had also spoken to Chandra about a possible offer, but this had not gone through. ZEEL’s capital allocation woes ZEEL first started looking for a buyer early last month, when the company was in talks with 3 ‘prospective foreign strategic investment entities.’ In November 2018, the Essel Group said that it would divest upto 50% of its 41.6% stake in ZEEL to a strategic partner to address its “capital allocation priorities.” Chandra and his family said that after reviewing technology advancements like AI, IoT, AR, VR and the convergence of telecom and media, the company had decided to divest from ZEEL. ZEEL CEO and MD Punit Goenka, who is also Chandra’s son, told the Times of India that the sale process was triggered after a “global media giant” made an offer to buy into ZEEL. ZEEL had attempted to…
