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Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd Stock Slumps 10% after Sony Scraps $10 Billion India Merger | India Business News
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Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd tumbled as much as 10% after the cancellation of a planned $10 billion merger with Sony Group Corp in India sparked a flurry of downgrades, with most analysts predicting a sharp contraction in its valuations.
At least nine brokers including Citigroup Inc and CLSA reduced their ratings on the stock as efforts to create an entertainment giant in Asia’s biggest streaming market collapsed amid a stalemate over who will head the combined entity.
Zee shares dropped as low as 208.3 rupees in Mumbai, the worst performer on the S&P BSE 500 Index. The stock trades at about 21 times its 12-month forward estimated earnings, versus 17 times in September 2021, just before the company announced it had agreed to merge with a Sony Group entity, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
“Zee’s stock valuation will likely de-rate,” CLSA analyst including Deepti Chaturvedi wrote in a note, downgrading stock to sell from buy. “Zee’s PE will slump back to 12x levels, seen prior to the Sony merger announcement.”
Sony was expected to benefit from Zee’s deep library of content in regional Indian languages and dozens of local television channels. Zee’s in precarious financial health and will facing growing competition, as Reliance Industries Ltd. and Walt Disney Co near their own merger.
“Competition should intensify with the reported merger of Reliance and Disney Star,” CLSA analysts wrote.
At least nine brokers including Citigroup Inc and CLSA reduced their ratings on the stock as efforts to create an entertainment giant in Asia’s biggest streaming market collapsed amid a stalemate over who will head the combined entity.
Zee shares dropped as low as 208.3 rupees in Mumbai, the worst performer on the S&P BSE 500 Index. The stock trades at about 21 times its 12-month forward estimated earnings, versus 17 times in September 2021, just before the company announced it had agreed to merge with a Sony Group entity, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
“Zee’s stock valuation will likely de-rate,” CLSA analyst including Deepti Chaturvedi wrote in a note, downgrading stock to sell from buy. “Zee’s PE will slump back to 12x levels, seen prior to the Sony merger announcement.”
Sony was expected to benefit from Zee’s deep library of content in regional Indian languages and dozens of local television channels. Zee’s in precarious financial health and will facing growing competition, as Reliance Industries Ltd. and Walt Disney Co near their own merger.
“Competition should intensify with the reported merger of Reliance and Disney Star,” CLSA analysts wrote.
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