DIGITAL DOMAIN ACQUIRES THE REMAINING 30% STAKE IN THE ACADEMY AWARD®-WINNING VISUAL EFFECTS COMPANY DIGITAL DOMAIN-RELIANCE, LLC
04.29.16
Introduces Prime Focus as Strategic Investor to Jointly Identify Cooperation Opportunities in the Booming Indian Post Production and Visual Effects Market
(29 April, 2016 – Hong Kong) Digital Domain Holdings Limited (the “Company” or “Digital Domain” or “DDHL”; stock code: 547), the parent company of Digital Domain 3.0 Group announced that it has entered into a sales and purchase agreement with Prime Focus Limited (“Prime Focus”) on 27 April 2016 to purchase Prime Focus’ 30% stake in the Academy Award®-winning visual effects company Digital Domain-Reliance, LLC (“Target Company” or “DDR”) for a consideration of US$30 million (approximately HK$232.5 million). The consideration will be settled by the issuance and allotment of 390,100,671 Acquisition Consideration Shares (representing 3.49% of the enlarged issued share capital of the Company) to Prime Focus at the issue price of HK$0.596 per share (“Issue Price”). The Issue Price represents a discount of approximately 5.40% to the closing price of HK$0.63 per share as quoted on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong on 27 April 2016. Upon completion of the transaction, Prime Focus will become Digital Domain’s strategic shareholder.
This strategic move will give DDHL sole ownership of the visual effects house responsible for creating VFX for hugely successful movies such as “Deadpool”, “Furious 7”, the Academy Award nominated “X-Men: Days of Future Past”, “Iron Man 3” and the legendary Academy Award winning films “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” and “Titanic”, allowing DDHL to continue its commitment to its core business of world-class visual effects in movies, TV, commercials, video games and the rapidly exploding field of Virtual Reality. DDR will continue to run its facilities in Los Angeles and and Vancouver.
Furthermore, the Company has entered into a memorandum of understanding (“MOU”) with Prime Focus for the possible formation of a new 50:50 joint venture to provide post production and visual effects services to the advertising, animation and virtual reality industry in India. Under the terms of the MOU, the Company’s payment of US$25 million (approximately HK$193.75 million) will be satisfied by the issuance of a further 325,083,893 new Shares (representing 2.83% of the enlarged issued share capital of the Company) to Prime Focus.
Mr. Seah Ang, Daniel, the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Digital Domain said, “Digital Domain-Reliance is the backbone to all the success we’ve had at DDHL. As we continue to expand our business into new entertainment media ventures in the U.S., Hong Kong and China, it’s that core that will allow us to be the industry leaders in content creation and distribution across all new media. With the full control of Digital Domain 3.0, we will have greater flexibility in integrating and managing its virtual reality, virtual human and immersive entertainment resources to develop the Greater China market, while leveraging our leading position as a content creator and owner to establish a revenue-driven model through collaboration with partners.”
“We are also pleased to introduce the world’s largest integrated media services powerhouse, Prime Focus, as our strategic investor, officially entering into the Indian market. Combining the advantages of its network, as well as the cutting-edge technology owned by us, we will jointly develop business of providing post production and visual effects services to the advertising, animation and virtual reality industry in India. The cooperation will allow us to further expand our foothold to entertain audiences worldwide,” added Mr. Seah.
The transactions and the issuance of the Acquisition Consideration Shares are subject to approval by Digital Domain’s shareholders at a special general meeting.
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About Digital Domain 3.0
Founded in 1993, Digital Domain (“original Digital Domain”) delivered innovative visuals for more than 100 movies including “Furious 7”, “Deadpool”, “Iron Man 3”, the “Transformers” trilogy, “TRON: Legacy” and “Titanic”. Its artists have earned multiple Academy Awards®. A creative driving force in media applications, original Digital Domain brought its artistry to thousands of commercial, video game and music video productions. The original Digital Domain also created digital humans for concert performances and co-produced the feature film “Ender’s Game”. From facilities in California and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, including its own state-of-the-art virtual production studio, the Digital Domain 3.0 Group (consisting of Digital Domain 3.0, Inc., Digital Domain Productions 3.0 (BC), Ltd. and Mothership Media, Inc.) enables the creation of extraordinary visual images in traditional entertainment and advertising. www.digitaldomain.com
About Digital Domain Holdings Limited
Digital Domain Holdings Limited is listed on the Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (HK stock code:547). Digital Domain Holdings is a diversified investment holding company with its operating and investment businesses spanning Hong Kong, the United States, Canada, Mainland China and other countries, encompassing such businesses as media entertainment, visual effects production, co-production of movies, property investment, trading, etc. Digital Domain Holdings changed to its present name in December 2013 and is headquartered in Hong Kong. http://www.ddhl.com/
About Prime Focus Limited
Prime Focus Limited (PFL), the world’s largest integrated media services powerhouse employs over 6,000 professionals in 16 cities across 4 continents and 7 time zones. PFL provide end-to-end creative services (visual effects, stereo 3D conversion, animation), technology products & services (Media ERP Suite and Cloud-enabled media services), production services (equipment rental) and post production services (Digital Intermediate, picture post) to Studios, Broadcast and Advertising industries.