Media baron Subhash Chandra is likely to lose his grip over Zee Entertainment as a number of asset managers, non-bank lenders and foreign portfolio investors, that had extended loans to Zee’s promoter group firms against share pledges, are now planning to put their pledged shares in an escrow account to prepare for a sale, reported livemint, citing three people familiar with the development.

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According to the report, the lenders to Chandra’s Essel Group firms are already in discussions with potential bidders to sell off the entire bulk of pledged shares.

“Large investors such as Sony Corp. and Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. group have evinced interest to buy Zee’s shares that are to be put up for sale in the escrow account. The escrow account will be created early this week and the bidding will start thereafter," a person close to the development was quoted as saying in the report.

Earlier, Russian financial institution VTB Capital had started the process of selling 10.71 percent in the company, said the report, adding the second lot is expected to transfer another 10.77 percent to the escrow account.