Cinema Capital Venture Fund, (CCVF) reckoned to be India's first regulated entertainment venture capital fund, is set to be launched shortly. Confirming the development, CCVF senior partner Samir Gupta said: “Yes, we have got Sebi’s approval and will be launching shortly with a corpus of Rs 500-700 crore. We are looking to offer the Indian investor a unique investment opportunity in the fast growing film entertainment sector.”
CCVF will be a close-ended fund and will look to invest in a broader spectrum of the entertainment industry and not restrict itself to financing just films. Mr Gupta, who has been producing films and television programmes for the last decade, and five other professionals will manage this fund. Sanjay Bhattacharjee, will be the COO of the fund along with some film producers and senior media professionals.
Mr Bhattacharjee, was earlier with UTV and helped set up their film business, while Mr Gupta headed the Indian arm of London-based Fact Based Media and produced the reality show, Lakme Fashion House.
Ernst & Young, which has structured the deal is confident of the fund’s showing. Says E&Y Senior Manager Global Tax Advisory Rakesh Jariwala, “The kinds of funds that have come in the markets are more mutual fund focused, which are bound to invest only in listed companies. A VC can invest in unlisted securities as well as the private sector. The scope for investable avenues is wider and they can pick and choose and offer a wider spectrum to their investors.
There is a lot of money chasing talent in this industry, which is in short supply, so the need is to nurture content. Also, VCs can go beyond the traditional areas as well into newer licensing and distribution areas like digital and so forth. Finally, it is a more organised approach to finance. In fact till three years ago, German film funds contributed as much as 30-40% to Hollywood finance.”
Although this could be the first Sebi-registered Bollywood fund, the film industry has been attracting a lot of money from across domestic and international markets.
PE majors such as Blackstone, Temasek, Warburg Pincus, Goldman Sachs, T Rowe Price, Lehman, DE Shaw are already key investors in the sector and Hollywood too is pouring in the moolah into Bollywood.
There are a couple of funds in the business such as The Indian Film Company, that raised $110 million from the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of London Stock Exchange and Pyramid Saimira said to be raising a $150 million entertainment fund soon. Ranbaxy promoters led financial services business Religare Enterprises, along with Vistaar Entertainment Ventures, has already announced the launch of Vistaar Religare Film Fund (VRFF) looking at a corpus of Rs 200 crore, yet, according to sources, it is awaiting Sebi approval.
According to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) the E&M industry recorded a growth of 17% over the previous year, against the projection of 15%.
Source: Economic Times