MUMBAI: In the latest financial results, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) MD and CEO Punit Goenka mentioned that the company has narrowed down its search for a partner to divest up to 50 per cent stake in the company, an announcement it made in November 2018. Now, according to an unconfirmed news report by CNBC TV18, the ZEEL promoters  are in the US reportedly negotiating with  Comcast and Sony  for a stake sale.

Both the companies have given bids in the range of Rs 540-560 per share, says the CNBCTV18 report, which is 24 per cent higher than the closing price of Thursday, 15 February. The agreement is likely to be concluded this week.

As of 31 December, ZEEL promoters hold 41.62 per cent share in the company. It seems that ZEEL promoters are now willing to share more than 50 per cent stake.

The report also says that Alibaba, Tencent and Amazon were also in the race for ZEEL’s OTT platform ZEE5.

The Subhash Chandra-led ZEEL reported 17.9 percent year-on year (y-o-y) growth with operating revenue at Rs 2,166.77 crore for the quarter ended 31 December 2018 (Q3 2019, quarter or period under review) as compared to the Rs 1,838.07 crore for the corresponding year ago quarter Q3 2018. EBITDA for the quarter under review increased 26.9 percent y-o-y to Rs 754.29 crore from Rs 594.42 crore.