ITV

Tag: Prime Focus

  • Reliance MediaWorks and others acquire 54 per cent of Prime Focus

    Reliance MediaWorks and others acquire 54 per cent of Prime Focus

    BENGALURU: Reliance MediaWorks Limited (RMWL) along with Reliance Land Works Private Limited (RLWPL) and others had sought to acquire 26 per cent or 7,77,08,534 shares (about 77.7 million shares) of Prime Focus though a public offer from its shareholders.

    The acquirers offered a price of Rs 52 per equity share of face value of Re 1 each. The total value of the offer was Rs 404,08,43,768 (about Rs 4.04 billion). The planned acquisition would increase the shareholding of RMWL and others to 63.96 per cent, the other 37.96 per cent to be obtained by way of preferential allotment through agreements.
     
    The other parties include Namit Malhotra, Naresh Malhotra and Monsoon Studio Private Limited (MSPL). MSPL is a wholly owned company by Namit Malhotra and Naresh Malhotra who are its promoters.
     
    As per the public press advertisement issued by the acquirers, they have managed to obtain 16.1 per cent representing 4,81,24,618 shares (about 48.1 million shares) at a cost of Rs 250,24,80,136 (about Rs 2.5 billion) taking the total shareholding of RMWL and others to 54.06 per cent once the preferential allotment is complete.
     
    Prime Focus has announced an Extra Ordinary General Meeting (EGM) on 29 January, 2015 to create, offer, issue and allot, from time to time and in one or more tranches, by way of a Preferential Issue, through offer letter and/or circular and/or information memorandum and/ or private placement memorandum and/or such other documents/writings, in such a manner and on such terms and conditions as may be determined by the Board in its absolute discretion to the acquirers viz., (1) up to 23,076,923 equity shares to MSPL; (2) up to 23,076,923 equity shares to RMWL as first RML subscription shares (3) up to 67,307,692 equity shares to RMWL as second RML subscription shares.

     

    Click here to read the notice
     

    Click here to read the advertisement

     

  • Reliance Media Works files revised dates draft letter for acquiring 26% of Prime Focus

    Reliance Media Works files revised dates draft letter for acquiring 26% of Prime Focus

     BENGALURU: Reliance Media Works Limited (RMW, acquirer) has filed a draft letter of offer (LOF) with revised dates on the bourses for acquisition of a 26 per cent voting stake in Prime Focus Limited (Prime Focus, target company). RMW is acting in concert with Reliance Land Private Limited, Namit Malhotra, Narseh Malhotra and Monsoon Studio Private Limited (Monsoon Studios).  

     

    RMW will make a cash offer at Rs 52 per Equity Share to acquire up to 7,77,08,534 Equity Shares of face value of Re 1 each representing 26 per cent of the emerging voting capital (EVC) of Prime Focus. The target company’s EVC  comprises the paid-up equity share capital of Rs 29,88,78,974 divided into 29,88,78,974 equity shares, being the paid-up equity share capital of the target company after the allotment of the preferential allotment – 11,34,61,538 Equity Shares to the acquirer and Monsoon Studios on a preferential allotment basis.

     

    The offer shall open on 19 December 2014 and will remain open until 2 January 2015. All owners (registered or unregistered) of Equity Shares, regardless of whether he/she/it held Equity Shares on the identified date 5 December 2014), are eligible to participate in the offer any time before the closure of the tendering period.

     

    Click here to read the offer letter

  • 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”.

  • Prime Focus Technologies appoints Yuval Tori as EVP, EMEA

    Prime Focus Technologies appoints Yuval Tori as EVP, EMEA

    MUMBAI: Prime Focus Technologies (PFT), the technology arm of Prime Focus, has appointed Yuval Tori as executive vice president for Europe, Middle East and Africa.

     

    Based in London, Tori will be responsible for business operations in the region including business development, sales and client relationships. EMEA is one of the most promising markets for PFT with client relationships like Viacom, The Associated Press and Sony MSM, among others.

     

    “We at PFT strongly believe in our glocal approach – we think global and act local. Yuval brings with him strong technology leadership and local market insights which is critical both for our customers and our business. I believe his experience and leadership will ensure that we continue to grow our presence in the EMEA markets and successfully meet the needs of our customers”, said Prime Focus Technologies founder and CEO Ramki Sankaranarayanan .

     

    “I have seen PFT grow from strength to strength. Its strategic agenda of expanding outside of India is clear from its recent Dax acquisition. I feel that is just the beginning. I can confidently say that the EMEA market with its very diverse media universe and established content organizations offers unique opportunities for PFT. I am looking forward to meet the colleagues from the industry at IBC this year as a part of PFT,” said Tori.

     

    Tori, a former lawyer with specialisation in company law and torts, comes to PFT with more than 15 years of experience in media and entertainment industry. Before joining PFT, he was  with Pilat Media as sales VP where he focused on growing the company’s business in the EMEA markets. Prior to that, he spent seven years with Amdocs and Comverse where he successfully led sales, business development initiatives and managed alliances.

  • 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.

  • Seven entries from India including one feature film make it to Apollo Award final list

    Seven entries from India including one feature film make it to Apollo Award final list

    NEW DELHI: Seven entries from India including the feature ‘Kai Po Che!’ and three from Discovery Communications India feature in the finalists for the 2014 Apollo Awards organised by Asia Image.

     

    The awards function is taking place on 18 June at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, alongside BroadcastAsia – the 19th International Digital Multimedia & Entertainment Technology Exhibition & Conference. 

     

    Out of 165 submissions received, 42 entries made the final cut after being judged by a panel of judges that combines extensive technical knowledge, critically acclaimed creativity, and years of experience in the media and entertainment industry. The results are tabulated and audited by international auditing firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers. 

     

    While ‘Kai Po Che!’ has been shortlisted for Colour Grading for Merzin Tavaria and Paresh Acharya of Prime Focus, Discovery Communications India makes it to the list for Cinematography – Long Form for Sanjay Agarwal filming ‘Everest: India Army Women’s Expedition’ produced by Robin Roy Films, the Sound Design category- Long Form for Jerry Teo in ‘Himalayan Tsunami’ produced by Beach House Pictures, which also gets a nomination for Colour Grading by Karen Ng.

     

    The other Indian entries are: Sandeep Shelar & Ashok in Art Direction for ‘Ixigo’ by Studio Eeksaurus Productions; and Merzin Tavaria for Visual Effects/ CGI – Long Form for two films ‘White House Down’ and ‘The Great Gatsby’ by Prime Focus. 

    Leading the pack, with multiple nominations across several categories, are VHQ Post and MediaCorp.

  • BARC selects Prime Focus Technologies for play-out monitoring service

    BARC selects Prime Focus Technologies for play-out monitoring service

    MUMBAI: Prime Focus Technologies (PFT), the technology subsidiary of Prime Focus, has announced that the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) has contracted it to offer play-out monitoring service to power the audience measurement programs.

     

    PFT’s globally proven CLEAR Media ERP platform bolstered with next generation content identification technology and digital services will help automatically generate play-out monitoring reports on a daily basis.

     

    “It is a great honor to be selected by BARC, and we consider it equally a great responsibility towards the industry,” said Prime Focus Technologies founder & CEO Ramki Sankaranarayanan. “India has one of the largest TV ecosystems in the world and the audience measurement system ought to be highly credible. We look forward to working with BARC to help build India’s very own, trusted rating service.”

     

    “With PFT on board we are one step closer to our mission of indigenously building a television audience measurement system that is better than the best in the world,” said BARC CEO Partho Dasgupta. “PFT’s world class technology, deep understanding of Indian broadcast and advertising industry, and across the board relationships with broadcasters and advertisers as a neutral partner made them the perfect choice for this critical role.”

     

    Audience measurement data is the de facto currency for media industry, being widely used by all stakeholders for planning, pricing, selling and buying advertising inventory on the medium. PFT will offer a robust play-out monitoring service which will check the actual telecast of each channel, capture the content at every point in time, and help link it back to the rating piece of the audience measurement system.

     

    India has 154 million TV households making it the third largest TV market in the world, next only to China and the US. This will be the first fully digital play-out monitoring service employed directly by the Indian broadcast industry and is scheduled to commence operations in October 2014.

  • Prime Focus FY-2014 PAT Rs 33 crore

    Prime Focus FY-2014 PAT Rs 33 crore

    BENGALURU: For FY-2014, Prime Focus Limited (Prime Focus) reported a PAT of Rs 33.04 crore as compared to a loss of Rs (-20.31) crore in FY-2013. Forex loss of Rs (-9.02) crore, non-cash reversal of deferred tax during the quarter are some of the factors that have added to the loss in Q4-2014 of Rs (-7.16) crore to Prime Focus as compared to a profit of Rs 10.33 crore in Q3-2014 and a profit of Rs 12.44 crore in Q4-2013.

     

    During FY-2014, Q4 is the only quarter that has reported an operational loss and a forex loss. Between Q1-2014 and Q3-2014, the company had reported a forex gain of Rs 38.23 crore, much more than the PAT reported by the company during the entire fiscal. The Q4-2014 forex loss reduced overall forex gains by the company in FY-2014 to Rs 29.21 crore.

     

    Click to read full report:

  • Prime Focus Technologies completes acquisition of DAX

    Prime Focus Technologies completes acquisition of DAX

    MUMBAI: Prime Focus Technologies (PFT), the technology subsidiary of Prime Focus today announced that it has completed the acquisition of DAX, a leading provider of cloud-based production workflow and media asset management applications to the entertainment industry.

     

    On 11 March, PFT announced a definitive agreement to acquire DAX for a base consideration of $ 9.1 million in a uniquely structured performance linked transaction. PFT through its US subsidiary will acquire all the assets of DAX for an upfront payment with balance payable over three years primarily from cash flows from the North American operations.

    The acquisition gives PFT ownership of DAX’s patented technology (US Patent No: 7,660,416/ 8,218,764) and products including the Primetime Emmy award winning Digital Dailies solution which is the de-facto industry standard in television production.

    It also sets the course for PFT’s strategic expansion in North America. PFT will significantly enhance the value proposition to DAX’s marquee customers including major studios and broadcast networks (Warner Bros. Television Studios, CBS Television Studios, 20th Century Fox Television Studios, Legendary Pictures, Fox Television Studios, A&E, Showtime, Starz, Relativity Media and Lionsgate) and many independent production and distribution companies.

    The combination now creates an unrivaled industry leader, offering a uniquely robust and dynamic stack of enterprise-class Media ERP solutions to broadcasters and studios claims the technology arm of Prime Focus.

  • Prime Focus World’s 3D solutions for filmmakers

    Prime Focus World’s 3D solutions for filmmakers

    Of late, several projects have deployed the process of making stereo images from non-stereo traditional 2D images, also called stereo conversion or dimensionalisation or 3D imagery. And one of the leading stereo conversion studios, Prime Focus World, has had a very successful track record of converting 2D films into 3D, and assisting filmmakers shoot in 3D during the filming process itself.

    While it is generally the directors and filmmakers who reach out to Prime Focus World to convert a 2D film into a 3D one, right from the scripting stage to pre-production and production, the studio too seeks out filmmakers to show them the possibilities of converting their films into 3D.

    Prime Focus World senior stereoscopic supervisor Justin Jones has worked with clients including Lucasfilm, Dreamworks Animation, Paramount Pictures, Relativity Media and Warner Bros, apart from collaborating with Industrial Light & Magic visual effects supervisors, John Knoll and Dennis Muren.

    Jones’ mandate is to oversee the creative aspect of 3D projects. Early in the project cycle, he collaborates with the client to develop a creative strategy and establish the show structure and workflow. He works closely with the show’s producer to conduct shot analysis, schedule consultation, departmental organisation and pipeline development. It is also part of Jones’ job to keep tab on the progress made by the show across teams in North America, India and the United Kingdom.

    Coming to technicalities, stereoscopic 3D is currently found in four basic formats, including anaglyph (red-cyan), polarised passive (movie theatres and many 3DTVs), active-shutter (DLP projectors and many 3DTVs) and autostereoscopic (parallax barrier like Nintendo 3DS). The tools used for stereo conversion are roto, ocula, in-painting, rubber mapping and projection. Of which, roto is the primary tool used for stereo conversion by volume. While roto just prepares the material, it is the most time-consuming portion of the conversion process.

    “Roto really helps us achieve perfect conversion and helps artistes to have greater control over each pixel during the final conversion process,” says Jones.

    While stereo conversion mainly relies on these tools, there is more to it than just the technical aspect. Many a times, there are creative differences between the studio and filmmakers but Jones believes in first visualising what the director wants and then sitting with the team and ideating on how best to utilise the shots and scenes for perfect conversion into 3D.

    “We convert a few shots and scenes and take it back to the filmmakers to show the difference between 2D and 3D, allowing them to give feedback and implementing it to see if it is beneficial to the conversion,” says Jones.

    With so much to and fro, the entire process is bound to be time-consuming. However, Prime Focus sticks to a very strict schedule to meet deadlines. “We have a track record of converting films in record time and with the right visual effects. What also helps is the abundance of resources that we have at our disposal. On any given project, we would have anywhere between 400 and 450 artistes,” exults Jones. A three-month window is usually kept for every project so as to allow time for final stage testing and checking footage in detail. Jones reveals that The Wizard of Oz (1939) took nearly 14 months from the early stages where the character design was mapped out on paper, which alone took 10 weeks.

    On the whole, it’s been a satisfying journey, what with hours, days, weeks and months of hard work being put in.

    Every project has been unique. Jones recalls doing a lot of stereo renders on Avatar and helping director James Cameron with stereo aspects as well. “Whatever Cameron shot, we worked alongside the stereographers of his team to bring out the best visual result, and were commended for our dedicated efforts,” he says. Working on Transformers alongside Michael Bay and Cory Turner was equally enjoyable, and “Working on Star Wars was a personal high as it is one of my favourite movie franchises. Working with Lucasfilm was a great experience as they have really been doing some great work in the field of advanced technology used in movies,” he says.

    Jones is excited about his current projects which includes Sin City 2: A Dame to Kill For. About the sequel to Sin City, he says, “We are doing all the special effects for the film and the concept, design and executing the visual effects, apart from doing all the stereo effects.”

    Ask him about 3D vs. 2D and he says it all depends on how much thought has really gone into the making of the 3D film. He gives the example of Cameron who was dead sure his film would be in 3D even before starting work on it, which is why he ensured the best use of technology. Ditto for Gravity, which took months of pre-production and visualizing a posse of camera angles and shots before getting made in 3D.

    “The idea is to offer an immersive experience for the viewer. That said, if the film is first shot in 2D and then converted into 3D, it doesn’t necessarily lose out on a great 3D proposition. What is required is a great stereographer who can visualise and find those places that can be used to enhance the 3D effect in the film and bring about an immersive experience. The idea is never to look like a gag for the audience by just throwing things at them in the theatres, but to give them a memory of taking back an experience, not just a movie,” sums up Jones. He is quick to add however that a good 3D effect can never make a bad movie get a good review; “You need to have a good script in place and each aspect of the film needs to be rock solid for great BO and critical acclaim,” Jones ends.