Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL) on Wednesday approved the merger of the media firm with Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI). The new combined entity will be publicly listed and Zee’s Punit Goenka will continue to lead the new firm as its managing director and chief executive officer. Goenka is the elder son of Essel Group Chairman Subhash Chandra who founded ZEE TV in 1992. At present, promoters own 3.99 per cent stake in the company.
This is not the first time when a stronger player continued to show confidence in the existing leadership of the company. In the history of India Inc., there are a couple of instances when acquiring company retained the top managers. Have a look:
Binny Bansal
E-commerce portal Flipkart, co-founder, Binny Bansal in 2018 stayed on to lead its management team after the company was acquired by global retail giant Walmart. However, he resigned a few months later after an investigation by Walmart into allegations of personal misconduct on his part.
VSS Mani
Reliance Retail Ventures, an arm of Reliance Industries, in August acquired the local search engine Just Dial, which boasts more than 30 million listings of enterprises across web, app and voice platforms. Despite acquiring the majority stake in the company, Reliance Retail Ventures kept founder VSS Mani as its CEO to lead Just Dial’s next phase of growth. As of September 30, Reliance Retail Ventures was the major promoter of the company with a stake of 40.98 per cent. On the other hand, promoter VSS Mani together with family members held a 10.70 per cent stake in the company.
Hemendra Kothari
Leading investment banker Hemendra Kothari started his career with family DS Purbhoodas & Co before founding financial services firm DSP Financial Consultants in 1975. He partnered with Merrill Lynch in 1995 but sold his 57 per cent stake in tranches between 2005 and 2009. However, he continued as the non-executive chairman of DSP BlackRock Investment Managers, a joint venture between Merrill Lynch and Blackrock in India.
Ajay Bohora and Anil Bohora
The country’s largest mortgage lender had first acquired a 41 per cent stake in HDFC Credila from DSP Merrill Lynch Capital Ltd in 2009. HDFC gradually increased its stake in the company to over 90 per cent by 2019. Promoters, Ajay Bohora and Anil Bohora continued to lead the company for almost a decade. After acquiring full ownership from Bohora’s, HDFC appointed Arijit Sanyal as the chief executive officer of the company in December 2019.
Malvinder Singh
Japanese major Daiichi Sankyo picked up the promoters - Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh’s - 34.8 per cent stake at Rs 737 per share in drugmaker Ranbaxy Laboratories in 2008. That meant the complete exit of the promoters from the company. However, Malvinder Singh continued to head the management for some time. However, he resigned in 2009 after Ranbaxy posted losses and after Daiichi Sankyo decided to get more actively involved in the newly acquired Indian unit. After the sale, a number of quality control issues and irregularities at Ranbaxy’s plants came to light, after which Daiichi Sankyo also took the brothers to court.
Banwari Lal Sharma
Online automobile classifieds firm CarTrade acquired rival CarWale in 2015 from German media conglomerate Axel Springer which sold its 91 per cent holding in the company five years after first acquiring the stake. The company retained Banwari Lal Sharma. At present, he is the chief executive officer of CarWale.
Dilip Digambar Dandekar, Shriram Sharad Dandekar, Subhash Digambar Dandekar
Japan’s Kokuyo had acquired a majority stake in stationery major Camlin in August 2016. As on September 30, 2021, Kokuyo Company held over 74 per cent stake in Kokuyo Camline. On the other hand, promoters Dilip Digambar Dandekar, Shriram Sharad Dandekar, Subhash Digambar Dandekar together held just 0.55 per cent stake in the company. At present, Dilip Digambar Dandekar is the chairman and non-executive director of the company, Shriram Sharad Dandekar is the vice chairman and executive director and Subhash Digambar Dandekar is chairman emeritus at Kokuyo Camlin.
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