DNEG, a subsidiary of Indian visual effects and animation company Prime Focus, will be listed on the American stock exchange NASDAQ with a valuation of $1.7 billion.
London-based DNEG was acquired by Prime Focus in 2014.
DNEG will get listed in New York through a merger with Sports Ventures Acquisition Corp. Upon closing of the transaction, the combined company will be renamed DNEG and the combined company will be led by Namit Malhotra, DNEG’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
The proposed business combination, which has been unanimously approved by both the boards of Sports Ventures and DNEG, is expected to close in the first half of the calendar year 2022, subject to approval by Sports Ventures’ stockholders and other customary closing conditions.
Founder of Prime Focus, Malhotra started the company in a garage in Mumbai in 1997, which now has become a global VFX and animation company.
“This transaction creates long-term stability for our teams while also allowing us to exploit the tailwinds in the media and entertainment industry and the explosion in demand for content, which are huge growth drivers for our company,” said Malhotra.
Prime Focus group that has its origins in Bollywood now sees 95 percent of its revenue coming from Hollywood projects.
DNEG has won six Academy Awards for best visual effects and has worked on ventures including Tenet, Interstellar, Inception, Avengers: Endgame, Mission Impossible: Fallout, The Huntsman, Inferno, among others.
The current and upcoming DNEG projects include Uncharted, Death on the Nile, Moonfall, Borderlands, Stranger Things season 4, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, Knives Out 2, The Last of Us, The Flash, and Shazam! Fury of the Gods which will hit theaters next year.
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