Press
Eros International plc on AIM
04/06/2006
Eros International plc, the international media and entertainment group that owns and distributes Bollywood content globally in a variety of formats, will today begin trading on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange, under the ticker EROS.
The flotation follows a placing of the company's shares which raised over £22.5 million ($41 million). The company will be capitalised at approximately £176.0 million ($321 million), at the placing price of at £1.76 per ordinary share, when the shares commence trading this morning, making Eros the largest listed company in the Indian film industry in terms of market capitalisation.
Kishore Lulla, Chairman and CEO, Eros International, said:
'This is an exciting day for everyone at Eros, and a new chapter in the growth of our business. We are proud to be bringing Eros to the market and today marks the start of Eros as a publicly traded company.'
| Eros | +44 (0)20 8963 8700 |
| Kishore Lulla | |
| Jyoti Deshpande | |
| Evolution Securities Limited | +44 (0)20 7071 4300 |
| Tom Price | |
| Brunswick Group LLP | +44 (0)20 7404 5959 |
| Jonathan Glass | |
| Tim Burt | |
About Eros International
Overview of Eros:- Eros was founded in 1977
- The Company has an extensive film library containing in excess of 1,300 titles
- Eros has a worldwide distribution network and more than 110 employees based in UK, India, the US, United Arab Emirates, Australia and Fiji
- Over the years Eros has acquired and distributed, outside India, an average of 35 films a year
- Strong brand and global recognition founded on a long history of success
- Valuable and extensive content library
- Well developed international network
- Management record
- Long-term strategic relationships and diverse client base
- Acquiring and exploiting content
- Consolidating the fragmented Indian film production market place
- Pioneering digital market convergence
- Developing new market segments and Crossover markets
- Distributing Hollywood and Bollywood home entertainment content in India
- Developing Indian digital cinema opportunities
History
The business of Eros was founded in India in 1977 by Arjan Lulla, to explore the opportunity to export Indian films and, in 1988, Kishore Lulla and Vijay Ahuja expanded the business into the UK.
In 1992 Eros distributed its first Bollywood film into cinemas in the UK. The film was called Khuda Gawah and starred Bollywood superstar, Amitabh Bachchan. Eros launched its US operations in 1997, by setting up Eros Entertainment Inc. as a joint venture. Dil Se, starring superstar Shah Rukh Khan was distributed by Eros in the UK and became the first Indian film to reach the top 10 in the UK Box Office Charts in 1998. In the Directors' view, this marked the beginning of the move towards the current position in the UK market, where films such as Devdas and Waqt were shown principally in multiplex cinema chains as well as dedicated Indian cinemas.
In 2000 Eros began distributing Bollywood films to multiplex cinema chains in South Africa and, in 2001 Eros opened its Dubai office.
At the Cannes film festival in 2002, Eros premiered Devdas, considered by many to be one of the most high profile Bollywood films to date. In 2002, mainstream retail chains in the UK such as HMV and Virgin began to sell Eros' DVDs. In order to be able to cater for what the Directors considered to be the growing demand in the Pacific Rim, Eros commenced operations in Fiji in March 2004 and its Australian business followed later that year. In 2005, Eros contracted with Video Networks Limited (which operates Homechoice, the UK video on demand ('VOD') service) to provide content and manage its entire South Asian media offering for the UK. Also in 2005, the Company acquired the outstanding 50 per cent. interest in Eros Entertainment Inc.
Earlier this year, Eros launched www.bondemand.tv, which has been positioned by the Company as a global online Bollywood movie, music and mobile download service. The Group also announced an arrangement with Intel Corporation to enable Eros' digital content library for Intel's ViiV platform, which is intended to allow consumers to enjoy content received via their PCs on their TVs.
In early 2006, Eros signed a distribution deal with a German distributor called Eurovideo GmbH (part of the Bavaria Film GmbH), to distribute German language dubbed versions of its Bollywood content into Germany. The Directors believe that this deal is representative of the opportunities currently available to the Group enabling it to expand into new geographic markets and formats.