Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) on Sunday said it is seeking legal advice after market regulator SEBI barred the company from the securities market for two months and its Chairman Emeritus Subhash Chandra and Managing Director and CEO Punit Goenka for one year in connection with the Hyderabad land pledge case.
The company, however, maintained that the regulator's order will not impact its ongoing Rs 2,300-crore fundraising exercise.
ZEEL is also likely to challenge the SEBI order before the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT), which hears appeals against orders passed by the market regulator.
The company said it remains committed to completing the proposed capital raise after securing the required regulatory and shareholder approvals.
"The company is in receipt of the order issued by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and is seeking advice from legal experts on the same. The company firmly believes that the order from SEBI has no direct bearing on the fundraising exercise," according to a ZEEL spokesperson, as quoted by PTI.
The company said it has already obtained approvals from the stock exchanges and shareholders for the fundraising proposal.
"The company would like to clarify that pursuant to the regulatory approvals received from the stock exchanges and from its esteemed shareholders at the Extraordinary General Meeting conducted on 31st July 2026, it will further take all required steps to successfully complete the fund-raising exercise, which is aimed at strengthening its financial foundation, and will also continue to work towards creating value for its stakeholders," the spokesperson said.
ZEEL also said it would pursue legal remedies against the allegations made against the company and its promoters.
"With regard to the allegations levied against the company and its promoters, the required measures in accordance with the law will be taken to protect the interest of all stakeholders," the spokesperson added.
On Friday, SEBI barred ZEEL from the securities market for two months and prohibited Subhash Chandra and Punit Goenka from accessing the securities market for one year over the unauthorised pledge of the company's Hyderabad land to secureloanstaken by promoter-linked Essel Group entities.
The regulator also imposed a total penalty of Rs 1.48 crore on ZEEL, Chandra and Goenka. Of this, ZEEL was fined Rs 30 lakh, while penalties of Rs 60 lakh and Rs 58 lakh were imposed on Chandra and Goenka, respectively.
The case pertains to a Deposit and Declaration Agreement executed on December 27, 2018, under which the original title deeds of ZEEL's Hyderabad property were handed over to Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd (IHFL) as security for loans availed by Essel Home and other Essel Group-linked entities.
According to SEBI, the use of ZEEL's property amounted to a related-party transaction for which prior approval from the company's audit committee was not obtained, resulting in violations of the Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements (LODR) regulations.
The regulator further observed that ZEEL did not make the required disclosures in its financial statements despite Punit Goenka and Subhash Chandra being aware that the Hyderabad property had been pledged and that the title deeds remained with the lender until June 2020.
In its findings against Subhash Chandra, SEBI said he misused his position as chairman by handing over the original title deeds of ZEEL's Hyderabad property to IHFL after allegedly misrepresenting that the action had been approved by the company's management.
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