In a Rs. 4,500-crore block deal, Essel Group, the promoter of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. (ZEEL), earlier this week sold about 15.7% of its stake to repay lenders. The buyers included GIC, BlackRock, Capital Research, HSBC Global, Segantii Capital, Marshall Wace and Norges Bank. The shares were sold at a price of Rs. 304 per share. After this sale, Zee promoters (Subhash Chandra and family) now hold just about 5% stake in ZEEL. Of the 5%, 1.1% is pledged with financial institutions.
The sale was carried out to raise money to retire huge debt. The Essel Group announced that the promoters will continue to remain on the board. Punit Goenka will continue to manage the show at Zee, a company founded by his father, Subhash Chandra, in 1982.
