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Tag: Namit Malhotra

  • Prime Focus launches CSR arm ‘Naresh Malhotra Foundation’

    Prime Focus launches CSR arm ‘Naresh Malhotra Foundation’

    MUMBAI: Prime Focus Limited, the world’s largest media services powerhouse launched its corporate social responsibility (CSR) arm ‘Naresh Malhotra Foundation’ in Mumbai on 2ndOctober 2014, the occasion of Founder and Chairman Emeritus Naresh Malhotra’s 70th birthday. The initiative was flagged off by Naresh Malhotra in the presence of staff, family and friends. Founder, Executive Chairman and Global CEO of Prime Focus, Namit Malhotra joined by video conference.

     

    Naresh Malhotra has been the guiding force behind Prime Focus’ stupendous success from being a garage start up in 1997 to becoming the world’s largest independent and integrated media services company with over 5500 people across 16 cities, 4 continents and 7 time zones.

     

    A veteran in the Indian Film and Television industry, Nareshji as he is fondly called, commenced his career as an Associate Director and Controller of Production with the well-known director Ashit Sen, with whom he made several films, including Khamoshi, Safar and Anokhi Raat, before venturing into producing films on his own, making four films including Shahenshah, with Mr. Amitabh Bachchan as the lead star. Malhotra realized early the potential boom in the Indian television industry, and set up India’s first digital audio studio and then, in 1990, ventured into the business of providing services for the production of TV programs and advertising films by hiring out video equipment like cameras, recorders and monitors to various satellite channels, production houses and ad filmmakers. He was instrumental in the launch of Prime Focus in 1997 and to this day continues to play an active role.

     

    The Foundation will focus on social issues like education and healthcare, and engage with prominent NGOs. It will also work closely with media and entertainment industry associations to offer scholarships for multimedia education and provide financial aid towards better healthcare for retired technicians. Prime Focus will run internal campaigns to drive volunteerism among its globally distributed workforce and organize events like charity balls and movie screenings in cities like Los Angeles, Vancouver, London and Singapore to spread the message and facilitate contributions.

     

    Speaking on this special occasion, Namit Malhotra said “Whatever we have achieved is thanks to the unstinted support and patronage we have received from the media and entertainment industry, and the guidance and blessings of my father. We want to do whatever little we can for the industry. Education and Healthcare have been two causes very dear to my father. On his 70th birthday what better way to thank him for all that he has been and will be to us, as well as the industry that gave us all the success”.

  • Reliance MediaWorks acquires 30 per cent stake in Prime Focus

    Reliance MediaWorks acquires 30 per cent stake in Prime Focus

    MUMBAI: After its mega announcement a few days ago about Prime Focus World merging with Double Negative to create the world’s largest independent, VFX, stereo conversion and animation company, one of the Ambani brothers has decided to step into the game as well.

     

    Anil Ambani owned Reliance MediaWorks has bought shares in Prime Focus and merged itself with Prime Focus. The trio will now be the world’s largest and most integrated media services group with over 5500 people across 20 locations offering services such as visual effects, stereo 3D conversion, animation and cloud-based digital media solutions that transcend the film, advertising and television industries.

     

    An announcement by the two companies to the BSE states that “the combination brings instant benefits to global clients, with new levels of creativity, technology innovation, truly integrated digital media services, unmatched scale, financial stability and sustainability.”

     

    The new group will also have the world’s first hybrid cloud-enabled media enterprise resource planning. This unique platform virtualises the content supply chain and helps broadcasters, studios, brands, sports and digital businesses manage their business of content by driving creative enablement, enhancing ecosystem efficiencies and sustainability, reducing costs and realising new monetisation opportunities.

     

    Reliance MediaWorks and the promoters of Prime Focus, Naresh and Namit Malhotra will each infuse fresh equity capital of Rs 120 crore into Prime Focus at Rs 52 per share through a preferential allotment, aggregating Rs 240 crore. The equity process will also be used to fund the merger of Prime Focus and Double Negative.

     

    The India and overseas operations of Reliance MediaWorks’ film and media services business will be combined with Prime Focus through a slump sale which means transferring of the whole or part of a business undertaking that is capable of carrying out operations independently for a lump sum consideration without assigning values to individual assets and liabilities. After that, the net consideration will be paid in the form of fresh equity shares of Prime Focus valued at the same share price.

     

    Once the preferential allotment and business combination is done, the shareholding of the Prime Focus’ promoters will come down from 41.48 per cent to 33.5 per cent and Reliance MediaWorks will be 30.2 per cent. The mandatory open offer in Prime Focus has also been announced to the extent of 26 per cent of the fully diluted share capital of Prime Focus at Rs 52 per share as well.

     

    Through this combination, Prime Focus’ will get access to one million square feet of facilities in Film City, Mumbai, 30 per cent stake in Hollywood VFX house- Digital Domain and 100 per cent ownership of LA based digital film restoration firm Lowry Digital.

     

    Reliance Capital states that it wants to primarily focus on its financial services and align its noncore investments with successful entrepreneurs.

     

    Namit Malhotra will be the executive chairman and global CEO of Prime Focus Group. Says he, “This is a very exciting time in the life of Prime Focus. From being able to partner the world’s finest visual effects provider Double Negative, to having the Reliance Group come on board, to help mobilise our strategy in building the bridge between the west and the east. I am very confident about the benefits this combination brings to all our customers, employees and stakeholders worldwide.”

     

    Speaking on the deal, Reliance Group group managing director Amitabh Jhunjhunwala said, “We are hugely excited about the transformational growth opportunity created by the powerful combination of the global film and media services business of Reliance MediaWorks and Prime Focus. Namit is an enormously passionate leader, who has created and run a highly successful global media services business. We are delighted to have the opportunity to support Prime Focus as the company moves to the next orbit of growth under Namit’s dynamic and ‘turbo-charged’ leadership.”

     

     Reliance MediaWorks CEO Venkatesh Roddam said that this was a natural and synergistic combination to optimise resources. “We are very pleased to combine our global film and media services business with Prime Focus. This will create enhanced value and new opportunities for all stakeholders, including customers in India and overseas and our dedicated team of people.”

     

    Commenting on the new media house creation, Reliance Capital CEO Sam Ghosh said, “The proposed transaction reflects a significant step forward in Reliance Capital’s strategy of unlocking value from its investments in sectors other than financial services. We intend to partner and align ourselves with successful entrepreneurs like Namit Malhotra of Prime Focus, who has established high growth businesses, and we will support them in their endeavours to attain global leadership and excellence in their chosen areas of core expertise. This strategy will free up management bandwidth  and resources  in Reliance Capital, enabling us to singularly focus  on, and   further  accelerate  growth  in, our  core  business of asset management, life  and non-life  insurance,  broking and distribution, commercial finance  and related sectors in financial services.”

     

    Similar discussions are underway in relation to unlocking of value from other investments made by Reliance Capital in areas outside financial services, and further announcements will be made at the appropriate stage.

     

    Some of the works handled by the trio include: The Dark Knight Trilogy, Transformers 4, Inception, Gravity, Harry Potter and Avatar. The deal between Reliance MediaWorks and Prime Focus brings integrated services to the Bollywood industry from equipment rental and shooting stages up to final digital distribution.

     

     EY India was the exclusive advisor to Reliance MediaWorks for the transaction and Centrum Capital was the exclusive advisor to Prime Focus. The transaction is expected to go on for a couple of weeks.

     

    Reliance MediaWorks and Prime Focus’s wholly owned company Monsoon Studio has taken 2,30,76,923 equity shares. 6,73,07,692 shares will be given via the open offer.

  • Namit Malhotra nominated to International 3D and Advanced Imaging Society’s 2014 Board of Governors

    Namit Malhotra nominated to International 3D and Advanced Imaging Society’s 2014 Board of Governors

    MUMBAI: Namit Malhotra, founder of Prime Focus (and Chairman & CEO, Prime Focus World) has been nominated to the prestigious 2014-15 Board of Governors of the International 3D and Advanced Imaging Society. 38-year old Namit is the first ever Indian to make it to the Board of the global Society. Incidentally, Prime Focus World had won the Society’s annual Creative Arts award in ‘Theatrical Motion Picture — Outstanding 2D to 3D conversion’ category for its spectacular work on Gravity in late January.

    Mike DeValue, Director of Advanced Technology at The Walt Disney Studios, and Tom Cosgrove, President and CEO of 3net and 3net Studios will serve as co-chairs. Kappei Morishita, Vice President and General Manager at Panasonic Hollywood Labs (PHL), will serve as the Society’s vice chairman.
     

    Commenting on the nomination, Namit Malhotra, Founder of Prime Focus (and Chairman & CEO, Prime Focus World) said, “it is a great honor to be part of the Society’s board and be collaborating with the brightest minds in the industry comprising of content creators, creative service providers, technology companies and delivery platforms. Post the unprecedented success of Gravity, 3D has regained its rightful position under the sun, and audiences and filmmakers alike are looking at 3D in a whole new way as an enabler of compelling story telling. I look forward to interesting times.”
     

    Nominated as governors also were Grant Anderson of Creative Monster Productions, Paul Becker of Gener8, cinematographer Matt Blute, Chuck Comisky of Chromium Labs 3D, Doug Davis of BitSpeed, William Foote of Samsung Electronics, Ron Geller of Dolby Labs, Thierry Henkinet of Volfoni, Matt Liszt of MasterImage 3D, Ingo Nadler of 3doo, Barry Sandrew of Legend 3D, Steve Schklair of 3ality Technica, William Sherak of StereoD, Lisa Truitt of National Geographic Cinema Ventures, Corey Turner of Paramount Pictures (News – Alert), Mark Turner of Dolby Labs, and Bob Whitehill of Pixar.
     

    “3D movies and premium content formats continue to be a strong part of the entertainment industry’s business plan. In 2013 alone, 16 of the top 20 highest grossing worldwide box office movies were 3D feature films. And over the last 5 years, 11 3D movies have been honored with a remarkable 30 Academy Awards,” stated Society President Jim Chabin. “With professional members in the US, China, Japan, Canada, the UK, and the EU, the Society is truly at the intersection where movies, television, games, and media will build their futures as premium consumer experiences. Our board brings together the world’s best experts on the media of tomorrow. They help insure that we will maximize the return on all of our investments in content and digital technology,” said Society President Jim Chabin.
     

    The International 3D & Advanced Imaging Society was founded by leading creative stakeholders, including The Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, DreamWorks Animation (DWA), Sony, Paramount, IMAX, Dolby, Panasonic, MasterImage and others to advance the creative arts and sciences of stereoscopic 3D and 4K. With chapters in the U.S., China, Japan, Canada, the E.U. and the U.K., the organization has more than 1,800 professional members in over 20 countries active in improving the arts and technologies of 3D and 4K excellence. The organization hosts professional education seminars and awards throughout the world.