Zee shares tumble 12% after Sebi action against Subhash Chandra, Punit Goenka
Shares of Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL) fell over 12% to Rs 101.50 on the BSE on Monday after Sebi's final order in the unauthorised pledge
Shares of Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL) fell over 12% to Rs 101.50 on the BSE on Monday after Sebi's final order in the unauthorised pledge of immovable property case. The regulator imposed a Rs 30 lakh fine and barred the company from accessing the securities market for two months. Sebi on Friday barred ZEEL founder Subhash Chandra and CEO Punit Goenka from the securities market for one year each and imposed a total penalty of Rs 1.48 crore over the unauthorised pledge of the company's Hyderabad land to secure loans for promoter-linked Essel Group entities.Sebi said its investigation was triggered after ZEEL's statutory auditor, Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP, reported in its FY19 audit that the title deeds of certain immovable properties were missing.The regulator said the original title deeds of ZEEL's Hyderabad land were deposited with Indiabulls Housing Finance on December 27, 2018, to create a first-ranking mortgage securing loans availed by four Essel Group companies.
The entities had together borrowed Rs 726 crore, while Essel Home acted as the co-borrower.According to the company’s statement released on the BSE, it is currently evaluating the Sebi order in consultation with legal advisors. In a separate development, ZEEL shareholders approved a Rs 3,144 crore fundraise through convertible warrants to the promoter group at Friday's EGM. The resolution secured 76.64% of votes, exceeding the 75% approval threshold required by law.However, the Sebi curbs on capital-markets access for the promoters and the company could introduce regulatory ambiguity around ZEEL's plans to issue fully convertible warrants to an entity within the promoter group, according to Ashish K Singh, managing partner, Capstone Legal. He further added that in the absence of a Sebi directive on the preferential warrant issue, the outcome of the EGM would stand.
ZEEL and the borrowing entities i.e. Subhash Chandra and Punit Goenka were alleged to be related-parties, as per the final order by Sebi. However, ZEE's financial statements revealed that the borrowing entities were not disclosed as related parties, and the use of the Hyderabad land for securing their loans was not disclosed as a related-party transaction. Sebi had alleged that the borrowing entities were ultimately controlled by Subhash Chandra, Punit Goenka and their family members through multiple layers of shareholding, making the transaction a related party transaction under accounting standards.Also Read | Sebi bans Zee's Subhash Chandra, Punit Goenka from markets for a yearAccording to the final order by Sebi, Chandra signed the declaration and acknowledgement on behalf of ZEEL, stating all necessary corporate approvals had been obtained before creating the mortgage.
The BriefWire