Invesco, the based US investment firm said on Thursday that it would renounce efforts to restructure the top management at Zee Entertainment, mentioning a planned merger between the Zee Network and the India unit of Japan’s Sony Group.
Zee Entertainment’s shares rocketed 18 percent higher as soon as the news came out.
Invesco owns almost 18 percent of shares in Zee. It was looking to send out Zee’s chief executive officer and appoint new independent board members, alleging corporate governance issues with the network. However, Zee has denied any wrongdoings.
Notably, Invesco had recently won an Indian court order to summon a meeting of the Zee shareholders, but it said that it had decided not to pursue the issue any further.
“Following the merger’s consummation, the board of the newly combined company will be substantially reconstituted, which will achieve our objective of strengthening board oversight of the company,” Invesco said in a statement.
Zee welcomed Invesco’s decision and said that the Sony merger, which was announced last September, was in the “best interest of all the stakeholders.”
Invesco however, said that it would carry on with monitoring the progress of the proposed merger and if it falls through, it might seek again a Zee Entertainment shareholder meeting.
