In February, Invesco Developing Markets Fund approached Punit Goenka with a deal to merge Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. with a large Indian group, claims a letter written by Goenka to the company’s board of directors.

The letter was considered by the board in a meeting on Tuesday and filed with stock exchanges. This is the first public disclosure Goenka has made about being approached with such a deal by the company’s largest shareholder.

Goenka says he refused to take the deal to the board as it overvalued entities of the Indian group, lacked information on valuation and commercial terms.

His letter, accompanying the filing, draws attention to two points,

That the merger proposal by Invesco’s representatives involved him continuing as managing director and chief executive officer of the merged entity. This stands in contrast with Invesco’s efforts to oust Goenka from the board, the letter implies without saying as much.

It also points out that the merger proposal sought to take Goenka’s family shareholding to 7% from the current 3.99%. This, too, stands in contrast with Invesco’s recent statement saying it would oppose any merger that unfairly rewards the Zee Entertainment promoter family at the expense of public shareholders.

Invesco said as much, earlier in the week, in an open letter to Zee Entertainment’s shareholders.

Invesco, along with affiliate OFI Global China Fund, owns 17.88% of Zee Entertainment and is the company’s single largest shareholder. It is currently locked in a legal dispute with the company and its board over its attempts to oust Goenka and appoint six new independent directors to Zee Entertainment’s board. The two foreign funds have sought a shareholder extraordinary meeting to put these resolutions to vote. The company board has rejected the EGM requisition. The matter is currently in court.

Responding to Goenka’s letter, the Zee Entertainment board said it had also taken cognisance of the open letter written by Invesco to the company’s shareholders earlier this week.

“Invesco’s actions over the past few weeks have been motivated by circumstances that are extraneous to the company’s business or performance, or issues of corporate governance or public interest,” the board said in the filing to stock exchanges.