AID Partners-backed Prime Focus to open in China
Prime Focus, a global movie effects and entertainment company headquartered in India and backed by Hong Kong PE firm AID Partners Capital, is to open an office in Beijing.
The move will allow the company to provide its services to Chinese companies via its subsidiaries Prime Focus World (PFW) and Prime Focus Technologies (PFT). PFW's services include visual effects, 3D conversion and animation while PFT provides technology and media management solutions. Production and post-production will be provided by the group as a whole.
The news comes three months after Prime Focus announced a joint venture with AID Partners and Zhejiang Jingqi Wenhua Chuanbo Company with a view to launching its services in China. At the same time AID Partners injected $10 million into PFW.
PFW is the world's largest provider of 2D-to-3D content conversion, visual effects and animation services. Previous projects include The Great Gatsby, Star Wars: Episode One - The Phantom Menace, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Avatar and Wrath of the Titans.
"We are enthusiastic about the shared opportunities our expansion into China brings," said Namit Malhotra, founder of Prime Focus, in a statement. "We have always recognized the advantages that globalization, coupled with intense localization, brings and have evolved our business strategy accordingly."
According to the Chinese State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, China's 2012 box office receipts increased 30%. The country is now the world's second-largest moviet theater market after the US, surpassing Japan. China is also the largest 3D market outside of the US.
AID Partners focuses on expansion capital and buyout opportunities primarily in the media and entertainment sector. It is the only independent investor to back PFW. However, Standard Chartered Private Equity invested $70 million in parent company Prime Focus last November, paying $35 million for a 19.71% stake and investing an additional $35 million through non-convertible debentures.
Earlier this year, AID Partners acquired a 100% stake in HMV Asia, a former unit of the ailing UK record store chain. Previous investment s include the Asian unit of movie production company, Legendary Pictures.
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