Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) has named three new independent directors through a stock exchange filing following their Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Saturday, December 16.
The three new independent directors are Venkata Ramana Murthy Pinisetti, Shishir Babubhai Desai, and Uttam Prakash Agarwal, effective from December 17, 2023.
As per Zee’s stock exchange filing, Venkata Ramana Murthy Pinisetti is a lawyer, an author and an academic practitioner in HR and organization development (OD) domains. He heads the Employment and Labor Law practice at Economic Laws Practice (ELP). In his corporate career of about three and a half decades, Murthy has worked with some of the Fortune 500 and Global organizations. Retiring from the Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL), as its Executive Vice President and Global Head Human Resources (CHRO), Murthy has also served the Coca- Cola Company (TCCC) for a period of 15 years as its Executive Director–Human Resources, a Board level position at Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages (HCCB).
Agarwal on the other hand is a Chartered Accountant with more than three decades of experience in taxation, finance and restructuring having worked extensively in areas of statutory audit, income leakage audit, concurrent audit, stock audit, of public sector banks under RBI’s appointment.
Shishir B Desai is a solicitor with 44 years of experience and enrolled with the Bombay Incorporated Law Society; and as Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England & Wales (Non-Practicing); Member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India.
The appointment of the three new independent directors to Zee board comes after Vivek Mehra and Sasha Mirchandani did not get enough votes.
Meanwhile on the Zee-Sony merger front, Zee has asked for an extension to the deadline, initially set for December 21. ZEEL has written to Culver Max Entertainment Private Limited formerly known as Sony Pictures Networks India Private Limited) (CMEPL) and Bangla Entertainment Private Limited (BEPL), seeking an extension.
On December 15, The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) refused to grant a stay on the merger of media giants Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) and Sony. The tribunal has however issued notice in the plea and listed the case for hearing on January 8. Axis Finance and IDBI bank had challenged the merger in the NCLAT.