On Friday, the company informed the stock exchange in a late evening stock exchange filing that the private sector lender has approached the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) under the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP).
The development comes at a time when the Mumbai-based entertainment company has already entered into a definitive agreement with Sony Pictures Network India (SPN) for a merger and is also embroiled in a legal tussle with its largest shareholder, Invesco, at multiple judicial forums.
“The company is a party to the Debt Service Reserve Account Guarantee Agreement entered into with IndusInd Bank for the term loan facility advanced to Siti Networks Limited,” said the company in its exchange filing. “The issue of the company’s alleged default under the DSRA Guarantee Agreement is sub judice before the Delhi High Court.”
ZEE has, however, maintained in its filing that this insolvency plea by IndusInd is in breach of the high court’s order of February 25, 2021, and the company will be adopting an appropriate legal step in that regard.
Ashish Pyasi, associate partner at law firm Dhir & Dhir Associates, said that a petition, even if filed by a bank, may not be maintainable for various reasons, which depend on the facts of each case.
“In the event, as stated in the disclosure filed by the company to the exchanges, if there is a breach of either order or agreement by the bank, then in such an event the petition may not be maintainable,” said Pyasi.
Last month, Axis Finance, a subsidiary of private sector lender Axis Bank, sent a legal notice to ZEE and its promoters, Subhash Chandra and his son Punit Goenka, seeking to recover over ₹146 crore in dues before finalising the proposed merger with SPN.
At that time, ZEE maintained that neither the company nor its MD and CEO, Punit Goenka, were party to any of the loan documents. The company also pointed out that Goenka or the company did not provide any assurance to Axis Finance for repayment.
