'We should become an all-encompassing entertainment and information destination," says chairman Subhash Chandra, who monitors the group on a monthly basis, leaving the day-to-day operations to the chief executive officers.
The company has kicked off sale of infrastructure assets as well as sale of a part of the promoter holding in Zee to repay loans.
Subhash Chandra, the chairman of the Essel Group, which has launched the breakaway Indian Cricket League, made it clear that the ongoing ICL-BCCI stand-off is not an "ego clash" between him and BCCI president Sharad Pawar and said they continue to be
Subhash Chandra making headlines is no longer news. For some years now it has been for his no-holds-barred feud with the Board for Control of Cricket in India.
The chairman of the Essel Group says he has settled 91.2 per cent of the estimated Rs 11,000 crore debt on the group's books.
The Essel Group website calls him a "karmyogi", defined as someone who believes in action rather than worry about its consequences.
Sets up new financial services arm, Amit Goenka joins as CEO.
Two of the country's top business houses -- the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group and the Subhash Chandra-controlled Essel Group -- have come together to set up gaming centres across the country. Groundwork for these centres will begin on April 1. Chandra's E-City Media has struck an alliance with Zapak Digital Entertainment to this effect.Globally, gaming is one of the leading entertainment businesses with the industry size pegged at around $35 billion today.
HITS is a new cable-distribution platform that is similar to the direct-to-home service. It allows distribution of digital-quality cable channels via satellite to cable operators at one go. For consumers, it means access to quality cable channels via a set-top box at reduced monthly rates, while for the cable industry, it means faster and cost-effective digitalisation.
Subhash Chandra, Chairman, Zee & Essel Group has received the Honorary Doctorate of Business Administration from the University of East London (UEL).
It is likely he will rope in an international ATM manufacturer as a strategic partner with equity stake.
The Essel group would invest close to Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) in the next five to seven years to expand operations under its education portfolio to take the number of schools to 300, a top company official said.
Rs 40 crore already deployed in a residential project in Chennai.
Markets regulator Sebi on Monday barred Essel Group chairman Subhash Chandra and Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) MD and CEO Punit Goenka from holding the position of a director or key managerial personnel in any listed company for siphoning off funds of the media firm. The case pertains to Chandra, who was also the chairman of ZEEL during the alleged violation, and Goenka having abused their position as directors or KMPs of a listed company for siphoning off funds for their own benefit. In its interim order, Sebi noted that Chandra and Goenka alienated the assets of ZEEL and other listed companies of Essel Group for the benefit of associate entities, which are owned and controlled by them.
The group was originally planning to raise a $100-million (around Rs 560 crore today) offshore fund but is now targetting $200 million, said Amit Goenka, managing director and chief executive of Essel Financial Services, the group's financial services arm.
Chandra, who will turn 69 years old on Saturday, becomes non-executive director with immediate effect.
The Essel group founder, Subhash Chandra has settled 91.2 per cent of his debt with 43 lenders, and the remaining dues are in the process of being paid. "I am happy to report that we have come out of the financial stress situation by settling 91.2% of our total debt to 43 lenders in 110 accounts. "About 88.3% of the amount has been paid, while the remaining 2.9% is in the process of being paid. "We are making all the required efforts to settle the remaining 8.8% of our total debt.
Zee Entertainment last week witnessed shareholder activism that saw an open call for the ouster of promoters and the incumbent management led by Punit Goenka. Besides, Dish TV also faced a similar call earlier this month. The trouble at Zee Entertainment can be gauged from the fact that this is a unique company wherein the promoters own just 3.99 per cent, but fully control the firm.
Zee Group is India's second-largest media and entertainment firm.
These businessmen represent the top five firms that have taken loans from the crisis-hit Yes Bank and these debts were either in the red or were stressed, officials said.
Zee News, Zee Media's flagship brand, was at the centre of a controversy over its media practices that pushed Subhash Chandra towards BJP.
Zee and its lenders had decided to enter into an agreement to not offload the pledged shares amid a sharp slide in the prices of the underlying securities during end-Janury. The terms give the lenders a greater say, upside benefit from the proposed strategic sale, more cover and personal guarantee.
His exit has created a benchmark of sorts for how entrepreneurs and businesses should deal with debt crises. Unlike many other Indian businessmen, he hasn't fled, tried to hang on to the business by any means or wrangle out of the debt by using his closeness to the current government. It is so very rare for Indian media businesses to grow out of their founding family's shadow, however, benevolent it may be.
The reduction in value of Chandra's assets comes close on the heels of the group's debt burgeoning to over Rs 12,000 crore, much of which he had raised by pledging his shares to banks and mutual funds in his flagship company ZEEL after many of the groups infrastructure bets did not take off.
Essel group on Tuesday welcomed the terms of the tender and said it would submit its bid on Wednesday.\n
Delhi HC has stayed CLB order against Essel group's bid on UNI. The tranfer of shares too has been termed null and void.
Mass mobility in India is in a race when the light turns from yellow to green. Just that this moment has lasted three years. The renewed enthusiasm, however, indicates that the lights may finally be about to change, says Patanjali Pahwa.
For all those sceptics who wondered whether the Essel Group's Subhash Chandra would be able to pull off a parallel cricket league, a line-up of players and a business plan is already in place.
Japan's Sony Corporation, which is merging its Indian television content company with Zee Entertainment Enterprises, is likely to seek a fresh forensic audit of the company after market regulator Sebi levelled fund diversion charges against Zee promoters, top lawyers said. The Sebi also barred Zee founder Subhash Chandra and its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Puneet Goenka from holding any position as director. "As the Sebi has made fund diversion charges, which may change the nature of audited reports already filed, the acquirer (Sony) can seek a fresh forensic audit," said H P Ranina, a corporate lawyer.
Debt funds have exposure of nearly Rs 8,000 crore to Zee group papers. Aditya Birla MF, HDFC MF, Franklin Templeton MF, and ICICI Prudential MF have the highest exposure, reports Samie Modak.
In its reply to the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT), the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said urgent action was warranted against the promoters of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) in the alleged fund diversion case to safeguard the management and protect investors and other stakeholders. It termed the applications made by Essel Group Chairman Subhash Chandra and ZEEL managing director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Punit Goenka as "completely false and misleading" in its response submitted to SAT on June 17. "We have a situation before us where the chairman emeritus and the MD and CEO of this large listed company are involved in a myriad of different schemes and transactions through which vast amounts of public money belonging to listed companies are diverted to private entities owned and controlled by these persons.
Essel Group has confirmed its plans to set up a rival Twenty20 cricket league.
In terms of market capitalisation, Zee alone has a market cap of Rs 24,000 crore compared to Rs 15,000 crore of the merged Reliance entity.
At least half a dozen foreign satellite firms with over 100 C-band transponders have initiated their talks with domestic media firms which are interested in launching headend-in-the-sky cable distribution platform.
