Australia-based Omnilab Media has teamed with U.S.-based Backyard Animated Pictures to launch Oktobor Animation in Auckland, New Zealand, reports VARIETY. The move expands Omnilab's presence in New Zealand where it has its vfx operations Oktobor.

The studio has already inked a far-reaching deal to work on Nickelodeon series such as THE PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR.

Bruce Everett is heading up the studio. The current staff is 30, but the company expects to expand to more than 120 by mid-2011 and then about 300 over the next four years. The decision to open in NZ was based on the county's tax incentives.