(17 June 2008 2:30 pm)

MUMBAI: Compact Disc India (CDI), an integrated media and entertainment company, has teamed up with Singapore’s Golden Games Pte Ltd to set up a developing and publishing gaming software studio at New Delhi.

The project cost will be around Rs 450 million, CDI chairman Suresh Kumar tells Indiantelevision.com.

The gaming software, to be applicable on all platforms like mobile and internet, will be outsourced to Laser Infomedia which is owned by the promoters of CDI.

"We aim to complete the project by the end of this fiscal. We are currently structuring the funding," says Kumar.

The equity financing will be to the tune of Rs 200 million while the balance will be supported through bank debt.

The Singapore company will invest Rs 80 million while CDI will put in Rs 30 million.

Laser Infomedia will raise Rs 90 million to complete the equity part of the funding. "The promoters of Infomedia plan to invest in the project. We are also looking at raising capital from private equity," says Kumar.

As part of the restructuring plan, CDI has decided to focus entirely on animation. The Chandigarh-based company has also decided to withdraw from the production of live-action films. Earlier, CDI had announced that it was getting into producing live-action films with Guru of Sex and Playing with the Enemy.

“We have been with the animation film industry since the past six years and we need more time to settle down with our core business, which is outsourcing work. We have decided not to diversify into other areas till such time that we consolidate our animation business. We are retrenching from production of live-action films,” says Kumar.