Invesco's Taking Revenge For Rejecting Reliance's Deal: Punit Goenka

Punit Goenka, the MD and CEO of ZEEL, claims that Invesco is attempting to remove him from the company's board of directors because he rejected the investor's proposal. Invesco was believed to be promoting a merger between Reliance's media companies and ZEEL. Punit Goenka, on the other hand, halted the sale, claiming that he did so to safeguard shareholder value.

According to an English business newspaper, Goenka claimed that Invesco's acts were considerably more than ordinary assistance in an affidavit to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). He further claimed that Invesco's demand letter was intended to teach him a lesson for rejecting their proposal by requiring major changes to the company's board of directors.

“They were clearly intended to put pressure on me to get ZEE to consummate the deal as presented by them – based on pre-agreed terms that ZEE or its management had no role in negotiating,” Goenka submitted. “The allegation of corporate governance being the trigger for their actions, or the deal not progressing on grounds that warrants were demanded by me or the promoter group, is a bogey.”

Invesco, Goenka claimed, is seeking control of the company’s board and trying to sabotage the proposed merger with Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI). He contended that Invesco’s sudden and abrupt issuance of the requisition notice seeking his removal from the board smacks of malafide and motivated action. He also alleged that Invesco is not acting in the interest of ZEE and/or the public shareholders at large.

"Invesco is camouflaging their true motives to interfere and change the management of ZEE at the behest of a third party, in order to take control and achieve their self-serving goals while positioning their action as a matter of ‘corporate governance’," the affidavit reads.