The war of words between Zee Entertainment and its largest shareholder Invesco continues with the media company's MD and CEO Punit Goenka sharing a note, talking about the US Fund's February proposal.
In his note dated October 14, Goenka said that the key reason to present the series of communications exchanged with Invesco to the Board of Directors of ZEE was to bring the truth out in the interest of all stakeholders.
"During my briefing to the Board, I emphasised on the points pertaining to the proposal from Invesco. My attention was on the imbalance observed in the valuation and how it was not in the best interest of our shareholders. The only reason I did not agree to the proposal was because the shareholder value was getting compromised," he said in the note.
Acknowledging Invesco's stance, Goenka said that communications pertaining to such proposals are always well-documented, and they speak to the contrary.
"I too have a lot of points to put across, but I firmly believe that there is a right time and place for it. Our lawyers will do the needful in the court of law, as deemed necessary. But on a personal note, I have some questions as well. Why didn’t Invesco make its plans public earlier? Does good corporate governance only apply to corporates and not their institutional investors?" Goenka questioned.
Zee on October 12 had said that an offer was presented to them by Invesco back in February 2021 to merge the company with entities linked to a large Indian group. The company claimed that the offer was turned down by Goenka as the merging entities of the strategic group were over-valued.
Invesco had fired back and questioned why it will seek a transaction for Zee that dilutes the long-term interests of ordinary shareholders. The Invesco group holds 17.88 percent in Zee.
While the issue between Zee and Invesco gets murkier, Goenka in his October 14 note said that the shareholders and management of a company are two sides of the same coin. "It is all about increasing the value of that coin together, for the betterment of all the shareholders and the Company at large," he said.
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