Pentamedia buys 3 content firms in all stock deal

Pentamedia buys 3 content firms in all stock deal
ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU

CHENNAI, DEC 26: Entertainment software firm, Pentamedia Graphics said on Tuesday that it had bought three local content firms and was also set to finalise other content deals, all for a total of about $60 million.

The firm said it had acquired the local content firms in an all-stock deal valued at over Rs 175 crore. It said the firm's board of directors had also approved content-related investments, either for acquisition of assets or joint-venture deals, with a clutch of local and overseas firms, totalling over $22 million.

The three local firms -- Media Dreams Ltd, Mayajaal and Krish Srikkanth Sports and Entertainment Ltd -- have been acquired through a preferential allotment of over 3.5 million equity shares valued at Rs 500 each.

Pentamedia said in a statement that Media Dreams specialised in entertainment programming for television and the Internet and had over 500 hours of content. It also supplies content to the firm's to-be-spun-off Internet broadcasting venture, Numtv.com.

It said Krish Srikkanth Sports is a Sports-based content provider for both television and the Internet and Mayajaal is a new theme-based entertainment complex comprising multiplexes and theme projection domes.

"The board has approved in principle to acquire 2,000 films from G V Films for a consideration of 90,000 shares and 450 titles of `Amar Chitra Katha' (popular Indian comics) for around Rs 90 million from India Book House," a firm statement said.

It said plans for investments in joint venture opportunities in some US and Canada-based entertainment software firms had also been discussed.

These include about $10 million in special effects maker Digital Domain Inc, an investment not exceeding $3 million in distribution firm Thornbush, under $1.5 million in Canadian 2D/3D Production firm Studio 345 and about five million dollars in US-based merchandising and games firm Purple Drop Inc.

Pentamedia shares closed at a new year's low on Tuesday, losing over 4.6 per cent or Rs 13.85 to end at Rs 285.85 on the Bombay Stock Exchange, on a day when the benchmark 30-share Bombay index took a technology-led knock.

Pentamedia's share is now over 87 percent off from its calendar high of Rs 2,344 touched on February 23 and 3.1 per cent off from its previous year low of Rs 295 on December 22.

Earlier this month, the firm said it planned to acquire a total of 10 overseas and local content companies or their digital assets as part of a strategic growth plan and said it had set aside a budget of $100 million for the acquisitions.

The 10 planned buys include US-based Film Roman, where it has already agreed to purchase a majority stake for $15 million.