Chinese government backs Sino-Hollywood movie fund
The Chinese government will support a new private equity fund set up to finance movie co-productions with foreign players in China. It is the first-ever state-backed film investment fund.
The news follows a proposed $800 million movie fund by Harvest Fund and Sun Media announced earlier this week.
The state-backed fund - China Mainstream Media National Film Capital Hollywood Inc. - will be led by Buting Yang, a former chairman of the state-run distributor China Film Group Corp. The vehicle will co-finance and co-produce movies which have larger box office potential in the world marketplace, with the hope that more films reach the ever-growing China market.
Hollywood studios continue to take an interest in China's fast-growing but closed film market. No more than 20 foreign films can be distributed within China each year, and the producers only receive 17% of the box office receipts. As a result, overseas studios are looking at co-productions with Chinese film companies, which are subject to the same censorship restrictions but none of the distribution limits.
With a Western movie-making approach and a management supported by financing from China, Yang believes the new fund will become a gateway partner to Hollywood.
"The strong government support and the extensive knowledge of the company's executives in film, financing and marketing enable the company to become a major film fund supporting top level films in both China and the US," he said in a statement to local media.
More details of the fund such as its size and potential investors have not been disclosed, but professionals from both movie and financial sectors have been recruited. The new fund has offices in Beijing and Beverly Hills, California.
Executive members include Qiankuan Li, movie director; Xiaofeng He, a leading economist and dean of Beijing University's Financing Department; Yuanjun Zhao, former JP Morgan Asia General Manager; and Jun Yang, former director of CITIC Media investment Group.
In addition to facilitating co-productions, the fund will invest in domestic low-budget movies and support young directors and digital cinema production.
More on Greater China
Latest News
Asian GPs slow implementation of ESG policies - survey
Asia-based private equity firms are assigning more dedicated resources to environment, social, and governance (ESG) programmes, but policy changes have slowed in the past 12 months, in part due to concerns raised internally and by LPs, according to a...
Singapore fintech start-up LXA gets $10m seed round
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) has led a USD 10m seed round for Singapore’s LXA, a financial technology start-up launched by a former Asia senior executive at The Blackstone Group.
India's InCred announces $60m round, claims unicorn status
Indian non-bank lender InCred Financial Services said it has received INR 5bn (USD 60m) at a valuation of at least USD 1bn from unnamed investors including “a global private equity fund.”
Insight leads $50m round for Australia's Roller
Insight Partners has led a USD 50m round for Australia’s Roller, a venue management software provider specializing in family fun parks.