New Delhi: Media mogul Subhash Chandra has resigned as chairman of his flagship company Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL), with immediate effect.
While accepting his resignation, the board said this is in line with the Sebi Listing Regulations that prohibit chairperson of the board from being related to the managing director or the chief executive officer of the company, ZEEL said in a regulatory filing Monday.
The firm also said its board has been reconstituted and three new independent directors R Gopalan, Surendra Singh and Aparajita Jain have been appointed in lieu of two independent and one nominee directors of Essel Group, promoter of Zee Entertainment. The reconstituted board consists of six independent directors and two members from the Essel Group.
“The reconstitution of the board was to strengthen and induct independent members with varied experiences to build value and provide a strong signal to the existing and new institutional investors who have recently reposed their faith in the intrinsic value of the company, by investing Rs 4,770 crore,” ZEEL said in the regulatory filing.
In September, the group had sold 11 per cent stake in ZEEL to Invesco-Oppenheimer fund for over Rs 4,224 crore and then retired debt worth Rs 4,000 crore. Atlanta-based Invesco already held 7.74 per cent stake in ZEEL since 2002.
Chandra will remain the company’s non-executive director, which he founded in 1992, added the filing.
“The board accepted his resignation and noted that this is in line with the requirements of Regulation 17(IB) of SEBI Listing Regulations, which inter alia mandates that the chairperson of the board shall not be related to the managing director or the chief executive officer of the company,” the firm said.
In a related development, ZEEL’s board also accepted the resignation of two independent directors Neharika Vohra and Sunil Sharma, with effect from November 24 as part of the process. It has also accepted the resignation of its company secretary M Lakshminarayanan and appointed Ashish Agarwal.
Gopalan, 67, is a former bureaucrat and the country’s former finance secretary. While Surendra Singh, 63, is a retired police officer, Aparajita Jain, 39, is a contemporary art professional.
ZEEL has reported revenue of Rs 6,857.86 crore for 2018-19.
Agencies