The development came a day after the Singapore International Arbitration Centre denied interim relief to Sony, which requested to stop Zee from approaching NCLT.
Sony Group and Zee Entertainment Enterprises called off their merger deal due to a disagreement over the managing director and chief executive position. The deal termination notice from Sony claimed multiple breaches by Zee, including a decline in operating profit, non-disclosure of investigations, and signing a deal with Disney Star without Sony s consent. Zee defended its actions, stating that there were sports-related exceptions and questioning Sony s motives for raising issues late in the deal.
The Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) denies emergency interim relief to Sony Group companies against Zee Entertainment Enterprises. SIAC s emergency arbitrator states that the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) is the appropriate forum. Legal experts confirm that arbitration proceedings regarding Zee s obligation to pay $90 million in termination fees to Sony will continue.
The Singapore Arbitration Centre has denied Sony Group s plea to restrain Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) from moving to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for enforcing a merger called off by Sony. The Emergency Arbitrator ruled it lacked jurisdiction to issue such an order. Sony terminated the merger agreement with ZEEL last month, citing unsatisfied conditions. ZEEL filed a petition before NCLT to implement the merger, and Sony initiated arbitration proceedings claiming a USD 90 million termination fee. The denial by the Singapore Arbitration Centre allows ZEEL to proceed with its NCLT application for the merger scheme.