Apr 20, 2020 - Economy

Hollywood meets Bollywood in film merger

Dan Primack

Gif of the world on a movie reel. — Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

STX Entertainment, a U.S. production studio whose titles include "Bad Moms" and "Hustlers," agreed to merge with Indian film producer Eros International in an all-stock deal that will value the combined company north of $1 billion, including debt.

Why it matters: It's as much a merger between Hollywood and Bollywood as it is between two companies.

Details: The agreement includes $125 million in new equity funding from existing STX investors TPG Capital, Hony Capital, and Liberty Global, plus a $350 million credit facility led by JPMorgan. Other STX backers include Tencent, NEA, DNS Capital, and PCCW.

The bottom line: "The merger comes after a trying year for STX, the studio that was created in hopes of offering the kind of midbudget movies most studios stopped making in favor of pricey blockbusters ... [Eros' streaming platform], currently being offered free as a coronavirus pandemic gesture to a lockdown audience, has 188 million registered users worldwide, with 26 million of them being paid subscribers. It has more than 12,000 titles, the largest collection of Indian content in the world." — Naman Ramachandran, Variety

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Hollywood meets Bollywood in film merger

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