NE BUSINESS BUREAU
MUMBAI, OCT 13
Reacting to media reports on Zee Entertainment Enterprises and Invesco, Mukesh Ambani-led RIL on Wednesday sought to clarify that it “never resorted to any hostile transactions”.
RIL said it regrets being drawn into the dispute between Zee and Invesco and that the reports in the media are not accurate.
We regret our being drawn into the dispute between Zee and Invesco. The reports in the media are not accurate. #RelianceIndustries pic.twitter.com/gEk4AnLlvG
— Pankaj Upadhyay (@pankaju17) October 13, 2021
“In February/ March 2021, Invesco assisted Reliance in arranging discussions directly between our representatives and Mr Punit Goenka, member of the founder family and Managing Director of Zee. We had made a broad proposal for merger of our media properties with Zee at fair valuations of Zee and all our properties. The valuations of Zee and our properties were arrived at based on the same parameters. The proposal sought to harness the strengths of all the merging entities and would have helped to create substantial value for all, including the shareholders of Zee.
“Reliance always endeavours to continue with the existing management of the investee companies and reward them for their performance. Accordingly, the proposal included continuation of Mr Goenka as Managing Director and issue of ESOPs to management, including Mr Goenka.
However, differences arose between Mr Goenka and Invesco with respect to a requirement of the founding family for increasing their stake by subscribing to preferential warrants. The investors seemed to be of the view that the founders could always increase their stake through market purchases. At Reliance, we respect all founders and have never resorted to any hostile transactions. So, we did not proceed further,” the oil-to-telecom conglomerate said in a statement.
Invesco said, earlier on Wednesday, that it facilitated talks between Reliance Industries and ZEE earlier this year on a possible tie-up, revealing for the first time that India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, was interested in the television giant.
But the US investment firm rejected allegations from Zee that it was resorting to double standards by objecting to a potential merger with Sony Group’s India unit with terms similar to those discussed with Reliance.
