Zee Starts Talks With Creditors to Close Sony Merger, Sources Say
- IDBI Bank and Axis Bank are among creditors seeking repayment
- Merger has got approvals, including antitrust regulators’ nod
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Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. has started settlement talks with its creditors to repay debts and remove the last hurdle in completing a merger with the Sony Group that would create a $10 billion media giant, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Indian television network has offered IDBI Bank Ltd., one of the creditors that moved insolvency court, to repay a loan of about 1.49 billion rupees ($18.1 million) in tranches, the people said, asking not to be named as the information isn’t public. Zee’s founders are in separate discussions with Axis Bank Ltd. and JC Flowers & Co.’s asset reconstruction unit to settle dues of 400 million rupees each made to entities controlled by them, they said.