Sony Pictures Entertainment said on Wednesday it took "seriously" an Indian regulator's ban on Zee Entertainment's founder and chief executive officer from holding board positions and would monitor developments that may affect its deal with Zee.
This was Sony's first comment since the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) one-year ban announced last week against Zee Group Chairman Subhash Chandra and CEO Punit Goenka, saying they had been actively involved in diverting company funds to the group's related entities.
Chandra and Goenka have challenged the ban at India's Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT).
Zee and an Indian unit of Japan's Sony Group Corp announced a merger to create a $10 billion TV enterprise in 2021, with Goenka set to become the merged entity's managing director and CEO.
Goenka's ban by SEBI has triggered worries about potential further delay.
The deal has been delayed due to multiple reasons including notices from India's antitrust watchdog and reports that stock exchanges were reconsidering approvals for the merger.
In February, an Indian tribunal put on hold insolvency proceedings initiated by lender IndusInd Bank Ltd against Zee and the company later settled its dispute with the lender.
Last year, Zee and Sony offered concessions such as pricing discounts to help ease regulatory concerns and received approval for the merger.
Zee shares came off an intraday high of 8.7% to stand up 3.7% after the Sony statement.
Zee did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sony's response.
