London co VMG to invest in Pyramid Saimira AMC

MUMBAI: Vision Media Group (VMG), a London-based media and entertainment group, would invest Rs 100 crore in Pyramid Saimira Content Fund Management, an asset management company (AMC) floated by Pyramid Saimira Theatre (PSTL), India’s largest digital theatre chain company.

The AMC is in the process of raising $150million content fund in the first phase. The fund has plans to raise $500 million by the end of the current fiscal.

VMG India president Shubha Sandeep, said, “We are expanding our operations in India. Our investments in PSTL content fund is a part of that. As far as entertainment business is concerned India is a quite promising market.”

The content fund is expected to help film-makers produce films without delays. Producers will have to sell the copyright and marketing rights of the film to PSTL. Though the funding may not necessarily cover the financing of the film, sources said venture capital funds and high net worth individuals have shown interest towards investing in it.

With one leg in the film production business as well as control over exhibition, Pyramid Saimira’s business model eliminates the traditional middleman - the distributor. By virtue of its control over hundreds of screens, the company is able to simultaneously show a film in multiple locations, which, to some extent, cuts piracy.

In a separate agreement signed between VMG and PSTL, VMG has agreed to produce 10 films a year across four South Indian languages for domestic and international market while PSTL will distribute the films in the Indian and international markets.