Prime Focus announces merger of Prime Focus World and DNeg

Leading media and entertainment industry services provider Prime Focus today announced that its creative services subsidiary, Prime Focus World (PFW) has acquired Double Negative (DNeg) which is 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.
"At Prime Focus World, we closed the year 2013-14 with Rs 480 crore of business and we hope our business to grow up to Rs 1200 crore by July with this acquisition," Prime Focus group COO Vikas Rathi told PTI but refused to divulge details.

"The deal took place in forms including partly cash, partly deferred consideration, equity in our subsidiary and the working capital we have," he added.
Currently, PFW is doing the release of nearly of half of summer blockbusters in the country some of which include 'Maleficent' and 'Edge of Tomorrow'.
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," Double Negative's management team, comprising CEO Matthew Holben and Managing Director Alex Hope, said in a statement.

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, they added.
For Prime Focus, the deal offers a clear path to growth where revenues would have more than doubled. With a combined order book of Rs 900 crore, the company will be in a strong position to sustain growth, generate free cash flows, pare down debt by 30-40 per cent over the next 4-6 quarters and offer significant value to its stakeholders, the statement said.