While news of Sony calling off its proposed merger with Zeel will dismay Zeels’ shareholders Punit Goenka who is in Ayodhaya remains optimistic about the future of his company.
He tweeted, “As I arrived at Ayodhya early this morning for the auspicious occasion of Pran Pratishtha, I received a message that the deal that I have spent 2 years envisioning and working towards had fallen through, despite my best and most honest efforts.
“I believe this to be a sign from the Lord. I resolve to move ahead positively and work towards strengthening Bharat’s pioneering M&E Company, for all its stakeholders.”
As I arrived at Ayodhya early this morning for the auspicious occasion of Pran Pratishtha, I received a message that the deal that I have spent 2 years envisioning and working towards had fallen through, despite my best and most honest efforts.
I believe this to be a sign from… pic.twitter.com/gASsM4NdKq— Punit Goenka (@punitgoenka) January 22, 2024
When contacted, Publicis Groupe South Asia CEO Anupriya Acharya said, “M&A deals, especially those involving behemoths are complex and challenging because of the scale, and complexities. Plus the two parties need to agree on the objectives of the M&A activity, shared vision and the future of the merged entity, cultural and integration issues etc. Something that looks good on paper may not necessarily get concluded. As per media reports, Sony Group has formally notified Zee that it is calling off the merger; the fruition of which would have created a formidable entertainment giant. However, such developments are not unusual as far as M&A goes, because it takes many milestones to conclude such deals successfully.”
Rohit Jain – Lionsgate India MD said,“Most of are not privy to views, perspectives etc on both sides for deal not taking place, hence it’s difficult to comment on the deal itself. However it’s certainly a missed opportunity on several counts. In this era of mega consolidations, there are far and few opportunities of mergers of such corporates and also tremendous amount of financial and emotional capital must have been invested in the deal past few years which will be a setback to overcome. These processes are never easy but both companies are helmed by seasoned and admired management teams to overcome this.
On flip side hopefully this may mean good for content eco-system as one would have two large corporates investing aggressive instead of a single buyer.”
An industry observer on condition of anonymity said, “Personally I think it’s a great opportunity wasted for both shareholders. In this era of consolidation this scale option may not exist anymore.”
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