Prime Focus Limited gets $250m investment for DNEG from Novator Capital

Prime Focus Limited has secured an investment of $250 million from Novator Capital Advisers for its subsidiary — DNEG, a visual effects (VFX) and animation company.

According to the Mumbai-based media services provider, the investment will enable it to optimize its structure and consolidate minority investments, while positioning DNEG for future growth.

Prime Focus Limited said that Namit Malhotra will continue in his present designation as Chairman and CEO of DNEG. Namit Malhotra will increase his ownership interest in Prime Focus Limited from 35% to nearly 70%, while Novator will acquire a 15% stake in DNEG.

Namit Malhotra said: “The doubling of my equity investment in DNEG’s parent company is testament to my full commitment and total belief in the opportunity. DNEG is perfectly positioned to strategically align with our clients and partners to create compelling and successful content for global audiences, and as some of our key clients move into new areas such as gaming, our strategy and the opportunity dovetail perfectly.

“With the backing of Novator, we are taking the next step in scaling and widening the scope of our business to capitalize on this huge opportunity, and I’m confident that this will make us an even stronger partner to our clients in both content services and content creation.”

Namit Malhotra – Chairman and CEO of DNEG. Photo courtesy of Prime Focus Limited.

DNEG, which is engaged in helping in the creation of feature film, television and multiplatform content, will look to plunge into the areas of content development, gaming and other adjacent categories, having secured the investment.

In the last seven years, the VFX and animation studio had won five Academy Awards for best visual effects for Tenet, First Man, Blade Runner 2049, Ex Machina, Interstellar, and Inception.

DNEG has a workforce of around 7,000 people and had offices and studios in India, the US, Canada, and the UK.

Thor Bjérgdlfsson — Chairman of Novator Capital Advisers said: “The global explosion in demand for high-quality content across platforms has given rise to significant opportunities in the media and entertainment market, and we have identified DNEG as having all of the key components in place to take full advantage of these opportunities.

“Building on its award-winning legacy, we are backing Namit’s vision to accelerate DNEG’s evolution from pure services provider to content production and gaming services powerhouse for the entire eco-system.”