PVR, Inox Leisure fix February 17 as record date for amalgamation; merged entity to be India's largest film exhibition company

PVR and Inox Leisure on Tuesday fixed February 17 as the record date for the scheme of amalgamation between the two multiplex players. On that day, PVR would determine shareholders of Inox Leisure to whom equity shares of the company would be allotted, pursuant to the scheme. Inox shareholders would get three shares of PVR for 10 shares held in the company.

"The ILL Committee of board of directors for operations of Inox Leisure in mutual agreement with the company have fixed February 17, 2023 as the ‘Record Date’ for the purpose of determining the shareholders of Inox Leisure to whom equity shares of the company would be allotted, pursuant to the scheme," PVR said in a filing to BSE.

The two multiplex operators had in January received approval from the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal's (NCLT) for the proposed merger.

The merged entity, will be known PVR-INOX. It would be India's largest film exhibition company. Brokerage Anand Rathi said the merger (PVR+ Inox) would create the largest multiplex chain with nearly 1,625 screens across over 350 properties.

It would command 17 per cent of the screens or 50 per cent of multiplex screens in India, with a 36-38 per cent share of net box-office collection, the brokerage said in a note.

The management said the merged entity would focus on adding 150-200 screens a year, mostly in tier-2 and -3 cities, aiming at 3,000 screens in the next five years.

“We believe that the merged entity would have higher pricing power and greater bargaining power (in regard to costs). The synergies would also result in robust free cash-flows. We expect merged entity to do occupancy of 30 per cent/31 per  cent in FY24/FY25 respectively (higher than exit occupancy of 26.8 per cent in FY23)," Anand Rathi said on February 1.

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