UFO Moviez earmarks Rs 200 cr for Scrabble's India expansion      
      
Press Trust of India / New Delhi September 28, 2011
     
Satellite-based digital cinema network UFO Moviez India today said it had committed an investment of Rs 200 crore to fuel the growth and expansion of Scrabble Entertainment in India.

Founded in 2005 by Valuable Group, UFO now has Apollo Tyres Group and PE investors 3i UK and Providence Equity Partners as investors as well.

It has a base of close to 2,600 digital screens, spread across more than 1,300 cities.

UFO Moviez has now increased its stake to 52% from the earlier 26% in Scrabble. Other shareholders in Scrabble include Sunil Patil and Ranjit Thakur (27%), while 21% stake is held by Walkwater Media, owned by film producer Manmohan Shetty.

"By acquiring majority stake in Scrabble, UFO Moviez has reiterated its commitment to ensuring that the Indian film industry ecosystem benefits from the resulting cost-efficiency and increased reach of content by taking Hollywood content to cinema lovers across 'Bharat' and beyond its metros," UFO Moviez Joint Managing Director Kapil Agarwal said.

Sushil K Agrawal, the Chief of Corporate Affairs, said the Rs 200 crore would include the investment made for hiking stake as well as the planned expansion of Scrabble in India.

The UFO-Scrabble combine plans to increase the number of DCI-compliant cinemas from 300 (that Scrabble has presently installed in around 30 major cities since its inception in 2007) to 800 (single screens as well as multiplexes) within six months, the statement said.

This will ensure that cinema viewers in Tier II and III cities get a chance to watch Hollywood content, since the six Hollywood studios only give content to DCI-compliant platforms, it added.

The company also plans to invest an additional USD 150 million for international expansion.

Scrabble Entertainment has already signed VPF deals with Hollywood studios and is ready to roll out operations in 10 countries in the Middle East and Eastern Europe (UAE, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Cyprus and Bulgaria).

It is also looking at expanding its footprints in Latin America (Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Mexico).
Scrabble expects to install around 2,000 screens internationally in the next two years, out of which deal

s for over 600 screens in the Middle East have already been finalised, the statement said.

The international roll out plans of Scrabble will entail a capex of USD 150 million, which will be funded by way of international debt and further equity infusion by UFO Moviez, it added.

UFO Moviez picks up 26% more in digital cinema systems provider Scrabble Entertainment to take total stake to 52%

NANDINI RAGHAVENDRA & AMEYA CHUMBHALE, ET Bureau Sep 23, 2011, 03.38am IST

MUMBAI: UFO Moviez has picked up 26% equity stake in Scrabble Entertainment, taking its total holding in the Manmohan Shettypromoted digital cinema systems provider to 52%.

UFO, a joint venture between the Valuable Group and Apollo International, which is in the same business as Scrabble, had bought 26% stake in the company a few months ago. Both companies help exhibit movies in the digital format, which is replacing traditional film prints.

Shetty, a Bollywood film producer who made a killing in 2007 when he sold his production house Adlabs Films to the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, had launched Scrabble with 72% ownership the same year. Following the deal with UFO, his shareholding in Scrabble has fallen to 21%.

The other promoters, Ranjit Thakur and Sunil Patil, hold 27% stake in the company. Private equity firm 3i and Providence Equity Partners have invested in UFO. Providence recently invested Rs 260 crore in the company.

UFO has 2,350 digital installations across India and Nepal, while Scrabble, India's only 2K digital cinema initiatives (DCI)-compliant entity, is expanding its footprint to Latin America, the Middle East and Eastern Europe. It plans to increase the number of its screens from 300 in India to around 2,500 by 2013.

Hollywood's big six studios — Sony, Warner, Disney, Fox, Universal and Paramount — have signed a global initiative whereby their content would only be released in DCI-compliant screens.

"We are planning to invest over Rs 150 crore to expand the Scrabble DCI screens and we expect, with this infusion, to reach 800-1000 screens in one and half years," Sanjay Gaekwad, managing director of UFO Moviez, said. "This will help Scrabble Entertainment increase its global footprint. It would have struggled in isolation," said Scrabble's Shetty.