MUMBAI: The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has reserved its order on the merger of Zee Entertainment Enterprises and with Culver Max Entertainment (earlier known as Sony Pictures Networks India).

The Mumbai bench of NCLT, comprising H V Subba Rao and Madhu Sinha, reserved the order on Monday, after hearing arguments from creditors who objected to the scheme including Axis Finance, JC Flower Asset Reconstruction Co, IDBI Bank, Imax Corp and IDBI Trusteeship.

In December 2021, Zee Entertainment and Sony Pictures had agreed to merge their businesses. Both media houses approached the tribunal for sanctioning of the merger after obtaining permissions from the National Stock Exchange, BSE, and other sectoral regulators such as the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

However, the process came to a halt following objections raised by several creditors of Essel Group against the non-compete clause added into the scheme.