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MUMBAI: Soon after announcing its restructuring plan, Zee Telefilms
Limited (ZTL) has swung into action on the acquisition front.
The company is acquiring 60 per cent stake in Venus Films Pvt. Ltd.
and Venus Records & Tapes Pvt.Ltd. for an undisclosed amount.
This will give Zee access to Venus' films and music titles.
Venus will continue to be handled by the existing management, helping
Zee Network in harnessing the opportunities in the Indian film industry.
The acquisition is subject to due diligence and final approval from
ZTL board.
Apart from audio and film rights, Venus has state of the art post-production
facilities, which will help in enhancing the content value of Zee
Network.The acquisition will add to Zee's existing library of films.
Commenting on the development, Essel Group senior vice president
Ashish Kaul said, "We look at this acquisition as an extension
of our existing business, as we are a major consumer of film and
music products. This will be in synergy with business of Zee Cinema
and Zee Muzic. The audio and film rights will strengthen the programming
of these channels."
Venus promoters, Ganesh Jain and Ratan Jain, have produced several
successful Hindi films, some of which are Josh, Garam Masala, Kyunki
and Hulchul. Venus Films has negative rights of 30 blockbuster
films like Baazigar, Yes Boss and Akele Hum Akele Tum among
others. Venus Records & Tapes has a repertoire of 2500 titles.
"This association of Venus, one of the largest and most successful
production houses with Zee Network, will be mutually beneficial,
as Zee will have access to all films of Venus and Venus will have
the support of India's largest television network. Being one of
the leading music companies, we will be able to provide a strong
support for Zee Cine Awards overseas and to the programming content
of Zee Muzic," says Ganesh Jain.
Elaborating further, he added, "This acquisition is also being
done in line with our plans to aggregate and digitalize content
for digital platforms, starting with the content of Zee Network.
This acquisition will help us be at the forefront of providing both
new and existing content across various consumer gadgets."
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