Zee Entertainment Shares Extend Fall After Insolvency Admission

Shares of Indian media company Zee Entertainment Enterprises extended their decline on Friday after insolvency proceedings were initiated against the company due to a loan default.

Zee Entertainment shares fell as much as 5.4% in early trade after closing down nearly 4% in the previous session.

The company’s shares, which have lost about 20% so far this year, are on track for their fifth straight session of losses.

Punit Goenka, chief executive of Zee on Thursday challenged insolvency proceedings against the company by India’s bankruptcy court, and still expected a timely completion of a merger with the local unit of Japan’s Sony Group Corp.

Multiple analysts have raised concerns about possible delays due to the insolvency proceeding on the Zee-Sony merger that is aimed at creating a $10 billion media powerhouse in India.

Meanwhile, the National Stock Exchange on Thursday banned the derivatives trading on Zee’s stock effective from April 28.

Goenka’s petition is coming up for hearing on Friday morning at the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)