Double Negative and Prime Focus World merge Hollywood VFX business
Combined entity will be the world's largest integrated VFX, 3D Conversion & Animation services company
Prime Focus founder Namit Malhotra to return as Executive Chairman of the Board and Group CEO of Prime Focus Limited
Mumbai June 25, 2014: In an unprecedented move, global media and entertainment industry services leader Prime Focus Limited (BSE code: 532748) has announced the merger of its creative services subsidiary Prime Focus World (PFW) and Double Negative (DNeg), one of the largest visual effects services providers to the global film industry. The agreement will create what is indisputably the world's largest independent VFX, stereo conversion and animation company serving the Hollywood film industry.
This is a transformational event both for the companies involved and for the industry, said Prime Focus founder and CEO of Prime Focus World, Namit Malhotra. Prime Focus has proven over the last five years the undeniable benefits of global collaboration: the flexibility of working in different time zones; the coming together of creative talent from across the globe; and the ability to leverage tax incentives. We can now bring this together with Double Negative's unquestionable creative excellence to build a truly formidable offering.
Established in 1998, Double Negative is Europe's largest independent VFX house with honors including an Academy Award (for Inception) and two BAFTAs (for Inception and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2). The transaction will be supported by Standard Chartered Private Equity, Macquarie Capital and AIDCapital Partners, all existing investors in Prime Focus entities, and existing bankers across the Group.
The new VFX business, which will trade under the Double Negative' brand, will be led by DNeg's current management team of Alex Hope (Managing Director) and Matthew Holben (CEO). In addition to the existing creative talent at its London and Singapore facilities, Double Negative will be opening in Vancouver by bringing key talent and technology besides having complete access to all production and technology infrastructure in India.
We have ambitious plans to build on what we've achieved in VFX over the last 15 years, said Double Negative's management team of Matthew Holben (CEO) and Alex Hope (Managing Director). This deal allows Double Negative to develop into a truly global operation that provides great work for our clients and great opportunities for our staff.
For Prime Focus the deal offers a clear path to growth where revenues would have more than doubled. With a combined order book of US$ 150 mn (INR 900 cr), the company will be in a strong position to sustain growth, generate free cash flows, pare down debt by 30-40% over the next 4-6 quarters and offer significant value to its stakeholders.
Prime Focus World's highly successful and market leading stereo 3D conversion offering and fast growing animation business will be unaffected by the merger. With over 4000 team members working across US, UK, Canada, China and India, Prime Focus World's award winning stereo conversion process has been used on widely acclaimed films such as Academy Award winners Gravity, The Wizard of Oz and The Last Emperor, as well as some of the highest grossing films of all time, including Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, The Amazing Spiderman 2 and Noah.
Our business proposition is already recognized in other industries, concluded Namit who will return to Prime Focus Limited as Executive Chairman of the Board and Group CEO. The delivery of unmatched creative design and development by the best that the West has to offer, supplemented by the unbeatable infrastructure, scale and cost efficiency of the East. We are establishing a new and sustainable direction for our company, whilst ensuring both growth for our investors and huge financial benefits for our clients. This is a substantive validation of Prime Focus' phenomenal growth story, and marks the beginning of a new trajectory for the company.
Both PFW and DNeg have a power packed summer line up. PFW kick started the season with its work on Maleficent and Edge of Tomorrow. It is also the lead conversion house and a VFX provider on
Transformers: Age of Extinction and the exclusive stereo VFX partner on Sin City: A Dame To Kill For. PFWis involved in almost half of all releases from the mainstream studios this summer. DNeg has delivered stunning visual effects for high-profile blockbusters such as Godzilla, Christopher Nolan's Interstellar, Jupiter Ascending from Andy and Lana Wachowski, Ridley Scott's Exodus: Gods and Kings, and Brett
Ratner's Hercules, among others.
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and expected to close in the coming weeks. Centrum Capital acted as financial advisors to Prime Focus.
US$1 = INR 60
About Double Negative
Founded in 1998 with a team of just 30, Double Negative has grown to become one of the industrys success stories and is now Europes largest independent provider of visual effects for Film (operating from locations in both London and Singapore).
Through our steady and constant growth the Company has always sought to retain both the creative drive and involvement of its artists through all projects and a close collaborative working relationship with clients. This approach ensures films both small and large receive the same high standard of creative and technical service. This has proved a winning combination resulting in awards recognition from the Visual Effects Society (for Inception and Sherlock Holmes), BAFTA (for Inception and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2) and the Academy Awards (for Incepti
Most recent headlines
04/08/2024
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, is excited to announce Santiago Solanas as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO)....
03/06/2024
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, a...
19/05/2024
Missed any of our product coverage during your busy week? The TV Tech weekly product and services news wrap-up provides links to all of our coverage from May 13...
19/05/2024
LeVar Burton will host the new game show Trivial Pursuit on The CW, while Raven-Symon will host Scrabble....
19/05/2024
President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have agreed to debates, set for June 27 on CNN and September 10 on ABC....
19/05/2024
Young Sheldon signs off after seven seasons on CBS, when the series finale airs Thursday, May 18. Jim Parsons and Mayim Bialik reprise their roles as Sheldon Co...
18/05/2024
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. Bundling is back in a big way, with all the major streaming companies and many pay TV operators exploring ways to simplify the consumer experie...
18/05/2024
WASHINGTON, D.C. Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has announced a tentative agenda for the June Open Commission Meeting schedule...
18/05/2024
Matthews Studio Equipment has introduced Grip Rail, which the company said offers a better way to mount equipment on location, in the studio, or on the fly....
18/05/2024
In a notable development in the industry-wide effort to address privacy concerns while improving efficacy of marketing efforts in a cookieless ad landscape, IAB...
18/05/2024
Missed any of our product coverage during your busy week? The TV Tech weekly product and services news wrap-up provides links to all of our coverage from May 13...
18/05/2024
DHD Elevates the Art of Podcast Production
Brie Clayton May 17, 2024
0 Comments
Hero image: the DHD DX2 base and expansion modules
Latest-generation ...
17/05/2024
Aerojet Rocketdyne has worked to modernize facilities at its Camden, Arkansas, l...
17/05/2024
The FCC has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that would revise rules governing low power TV stations (LPTV) in a number of areas, including online ...
17/05/2024
Demystifying Post-Production: Introducing Cinema 4D Particles Week 4
Brie Clayton May 17, 2024
0 Comments
With the spring release of Maxon One, we...
17/05/2024
Takashi Yamazaki Film Godzilla Minus One Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton May 17, 2024
0 Comments
Hero image credit: 2023 TOHO CO., LT...
17/05/2024
Sterling Event Group Streamlines Live Event Productions with AJA
Brie Clayton May 17, 2024
0 Comments
Live event productions only happen once, which ...
17/05/2024
Muster Ngobi, product manager at LYNX Technik tells TVBEurope how the ever-evolving media industry provides a truly dynamic working environment
By Matthew Corr...
17/05/2024
NEW YORK As declines in linear TV viewing make the ongoing popularity of live sports, particularly football, central to financial success of the TV industry, th...
17/05/2024
During Netflixs second Upfront presentation to advertisers, Amy Reinhard, Netflix's president of advertising, walked advertisers through the continued growt...
17/05/2024
CINCINNATI The E.W. Scripps Company has added to its leadership team for news by promoting Jeff Kiernan a veteran journalist and general manager of Scripps'...
17/05/2024
Top executives from Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery have consistently insisted that their joint venture to launch the Venu Sports streaming bundle in the...
17/05/2024
ESPN has announced that its coverage of Caitlin Clark's WNBA debut in the Indiana Fever versus the Connecticut Sun season opener was the most-watched WNBA g...
17/05/2024
ATEM Mini Extreme ISO switcher and Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K
Brie Clayton May 16, 2024
0 Comments
Blackmagic Design announced today that Yoic...
17/05/2024
Pixomondo's Virtual Production Academy Expands with Programs at Sony PCL, Vo...
17/05/2024
The Warner Bros. Discovery upfront presentation took place Wednesday, May 15 at ...
17/05/2024
Season 25 of The Voice wraps on NBC Tuesday, May 21, with performances from The Black Keys, Jelly Roll, Kate Hudson, Lainey Wilson, Muni Long, Thomas Rhett and ...
17/05/2024
New CNN CEO Mark Thompson spelled out his plan for the struggling news network d...
17/05/2024
Netflix, a newcomer to the advertising business, said it plans to launch an in-house advertising technology platform....
17/05/2024
Netflix shared some programming projects at an upfront presentation in New York. Those include the basketball-themed comedy series Running Point, a Mindy Kaling...
17/05/2024
Plex is offering movie and music collectors a 20% discount off its Lifetime Plex Pass as part of its Geek Week sale....
17/05/2024
Giant media buyer GroupM said it named Toby Jenner as global president, Group M Clients, a new position at the company....
17/05/2024
Smaller advertisers are increasingly buying connected TV programmatically, according to a new report from FreeWheel, Comcast's ad-tech unit....
17/05/2024
TCLtvPlus, the streaming app on smart TVs made by TCL, has added live linear channel from music-video programmer Vevo....
17/05/2024
StackAdapt said it made a deal to integrate data from Samba TV into its programmatic advertising platform....
17/05/2024
Tonight on House of Zwide: Dorothy is blown away by Ona's sketches for her w...
17/05/2024
Tonight on Scandal: Dintle has a visit from her past that leaves her very unsett...
17/05/2024
WO Traffic provides a solid foundation from which stations can manage, execute, and scale end-to-end ad trafficking and sales, both today and into the future. W...
17/05/2024
Broadcast Innovation in India: How AI and Automated Production Helps Smaller Spo...
17/05/2024
SVG Sports Cloud Production Forum Gives Refresher Course on Cloud-Based Tools, E...
17/05/2024
WNBA Tip-Off 2024: Scripps Sports Constructs New Studio for Second Season of WNB...
17/05/2024
SVG College Summit 2024: Auburn's War Eagle Productions Breaks Down How They...
17/05/2024
Back to All News
Netflix & Shondaland Announce the Song List and Soundtrack for...
17/05/2024
Skeem Saam: Thursday's episode, 16 May 2024 [video]Missed an episode of Skeem Saam? No problem! Watch the latest episode of your favourite South African soa...
17/05/2024
Prison Journalism: Letter to my mothersThabo Mthembu was incarcerated in Pollsmoor Prison from 2014 to 2019. Read Thabo's story
by Thabo Mthembu
17-05-20...
17/05/2024
Paul McCartney becomes UK's first billionaire musicianMusic icon Paul McCartney has become the UK's first billionaire musician, according to the Sunday ...
17/05/2024
Tonight on Smoke and Mirrors: Sakhile advises Tiny against sabotaging PetuniaDon't miss Friday, 17 May's riveting episode of South African soapie Smoke ...
17/05/2024
RT has today announced that Operation Transformation (OT) is to end after 17 seasons. As series come to an end each year, RT undertakes an editorial review to...
17/05/2024
By Craig Anderton
When I heard about binaural beats, I was interested-I like beats, and I'm into binaural audio. But this has nothing to do with either o...
17/05/2024
Scripps Research chemist Donna Blackmond elected to the Royal Society of the U.K. Blackmond's wide-ranging work has shaped origin of life theories, our unde...