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New Investor Cashes In On Imagi

Animation studio Imagi International Holdings is selling $40 million in shares to Singapore-based Oxley Spring Media to fund their slate of films.

Imagi will use the money to complete their next full-length CG animated feature, ASTRO BOY, due out in 2009. Imagi's first feature, TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES, was released last year. The studio has branches in Hong Kong and Los Angeles.

Under the terms of the transaction, Oxley Spring Media will acquire approximately 3.62 million shares priced at HKD $0.86 per share. On a fully diluted basis, the shares will represent an approximate 18 percent ownership stake in Imagi as enlarged by the placing shares. An initial $20 million tranche is expected to close soon. The second $20 million tranche is expected to close within the next month, following Imagi shareholder ratification.

This investment is representative of a strategy by Oxley Spring Media to target Asia-based leisure, entertainment and media investment opportunities. "Imagi is one of only a handful of global animation film studios, said Mark Pawley, a Director of Oxley Spring Media. "Moreover, it is the only one which is headquartered in Asia, with all the attendant cost and other benefits."

Per VARIETY, the transaction also gives Pawley, the former Asia Pacific investment banking head of Credit Suisse First Boston, the power to nominate two members of Imagi's board of directors.

Imagi last month announced it had entered into a global alliance with Summit Ent. for Summit will distribute ASTRO BOY worldwide except for in Japan, Hong Kong and China.

Imagi is also working on comic book adaptation GATCHAMAN, and has plans to complete four more films between 2009 and 2011, thanks to the transaction.

Originally created by the "god of manga" Osamu Tezuka, ASTRO BOY has been one of the world's most beloved superhero characters for more than 50 years. The original animated television series aired in the 1960s and was followed by subsequent versions in the 1980s and again in 2003.

Imagi's feature film version tells the story of a young robot with incredible powers created by a brilliant scientist to replace the son he has lost. Unable to fulfill the grieving father's expectations, our hero embarks on a journey in search of acceptance, experiencing betrayal and a netherworld of robot gladiators, before he returns to save Metro City and reconcile with the man who had rejected him.

ASTRO BOY is directed by David Bowers (FLUSHED AWAY, SHARK TALE, WALLACE & GROMIT CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT), written by Timothy Harris (SPACE JAM, TWINS, TRADING PLACES, KINDERGARTEN COP), and produced by Maryann Garger (FLUSHED AWAY, PRINCE OF EGYPT, SPIRIT). Voice talent includes Freddie Highmore, Nicolas Cage, Bill Nighy, Nathan Lane, and Eugene Levy.

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