Zee share price locked at 10% lower circuit on report of Sebi finding ₹2,000 crore irregularity in accounts

Zee shares were locked at 10% lower circuit in the opening trade on Wednesday on report that Sebi has found irregularities worth ₹2,000 crore in the accounts of the company.

In a setback for Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL), capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has unearthed a financial discrepancy exceeding $240 million or around ₹2,000 crore in the accounts of the company, Bloomberg News reported.

As part of its investigation into Zee founders, SEBI has disclosed that approximately ₹2,000 crore ($241 million) may have been redirected from the company. This amount is nearly ten times more than SEBI investigators initially estimated, the report added.

Read here: SEBI finds ₹2000 crore accounting and funds divergence issue at Zee Entertainment Enterprises, say reports

Moreover, the regulator has also summoned Zee founders Subhash Chandra, his son Punit Goenka, and certain board members of the beleaguered media firm, to provide explanations, according to the Bloomberg report.

Zee shares have seen a massive downfall recently after the collapse of its merger with Sony Group Corp’s India unit. The stock has fallen 30% year-to-date (YTD).

Separately, Zee Entertainment issued a clarification on Tuesday denying reports of restarting discussions with the Sony group to revive their $10 billion merger deal that was scrapped on January 22.

Read here: ‘Factually incorrect’: Zee Ent denies reports on reviving Sony-Zee merger talks

In a regulatory filing, Zee Entertainment said that the company was not involved in any negotiations on the Sony merger deal and that reports suggesting a revival of talks were ‘factually incorrect’.

Zee shares had surged nearly 8% on Tuesday after a report said that representatives from both parties have been working to salvage the deal, with efforts to revive the merger gaining momentum over the past two weeks.

At 9:17 am, Zee Entertainment shares were at 10% lower circuit at ₹173.70 apiece on the BSE.

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