Zee Media Board Approves Rs 400 Cr Fundraising, Board Okays Increasing FPI Shareholding From 24% To 49%

At its meeting on January 13, 2025, the Board of Directors of Zee Media Corporation considered and approved a plan to raise up to Rs 400 crore through a variety of instruments, including equity shares, convertible bonds, debentures, warrants, preference shares, or foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs). As a result, the company's shares are expected to be in the spotlight today, Tuesday, January 14. A plan to raise the shareholding limits for Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) was also accepted by the board.

The Board of Directors considered and "granted its approval for exploring available options for raising of funds through all permitted instruments, including but not limited to, by way of issuance of equity shares/ convertible bonds/ debentures/ warrants/ preference shares/ foreign currency convertible bond (FCCB) / any other equity linked securities and/ or any other securities including through preferential issue on a private placement basis, qualified institutional placement or any other methods or combinations thereof, listed or unlisted, for an amount not exceeding Rs. 400 crores, in one or more tranches, subject to such approvals as may be required including that of shareholders / regulatory and statutory approvals," said Zee Media Corporation in a stock exchange filing on Monday.

The Board additionally "approved increasing the shareholding limits for Foreign Portfolio Investors ('FPIs') and Foreign Institutional Investors ('FIls') from 24% to 49% of the paid-up share capital of the Company under the overall permissible limit of 49% subject to approval of the shareholders of the Company," informed Zee Media Corporation to stock exchanges on 13th January.

On November 7, 2024, the company's Board of Directors granted 13,33,33,333 fully convertible warrants to three Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs)-UNICO Global Opportunities Fund Limited, Ebisu Global Opportunities Fund Limited, and AL Maha Investment Fund PCC-Onyx Strategy-at a price that includes the warrant subscription price and the warrant exercise price of Rs. 15/-per warrant, totalling Rs. 1,99,99,99,995/-. This allocation was made preferentially, according to a stock exchange filing.

At the company's Extra Ordinary General Meeting on 22 October 2024, the shareholders approved the issuance of up to 13,33,33,333 fully convertible warrants, each convertible into a single fully paid up equity share with a face value of Rs. 1 each, to specific identified Non-Promoter/Non-Promoter Group entities at a price of Rs. 15/-per warrant, including a premium of Rs. 14/-per warrant on a preferential basis, in accordance with the applicable provisions. This would raise up to Rs. 200 Crores.

For the second quarter that ended in September 2024, Zee Media reported that its consolidated net loss increased to Rs 49.86 crore. According to a regulatory filing by Zee Media Corporation Ltd., the company reported a net loss of Rs 30.70 crore for the July-September quarter of the previous fiscal year. During Q2FY25, its operating revenue dropped 13.78% to Rs 130.70 crore. In Q2FY24, it was Rs 151.59 crore. In the September FY25 quarter, ZMCL's total expenditures increased by 1.64% to Rs 199.65 crore while net income fell 13.43% to Rs 133.12 crore.

On Tuesday, the shares of Zee Media Corporation opened at an upper circuit limit of Rs 19.35 per share rising 2.11% from the previous close of Rs 18.95. The market cap of the company was Rs 1.21KCr as of 9:17 am IST.