South-based privately held media and entertainment group Carnival, which runs a regional cinema chain under Carnival Cinemas banner, is acquiring real estate developer Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd’s (HDIL) multiplex chain Broadway Cinema for Rs 110 crore ($18 million), the company announced on Friday.
“Our journey began from Kerala but this step of acquiring HDIL’s Broadway Cinema is one more step towards achieving our aim of launching 300 screens across India,” said chairman of Carnival Group, Shrikant Bhasi.
Carnival Cinemas which at present operates five screens in Kerala and Tamil Nadu is looking to become a dominant player in South India. The company has already signed to open 50 screens in Kerala, 20 screens in Tamil Nadu, 17 screens in Karnataka and 50 screens in Madhya Pradesh, according to an earlier report in Business Standard.
Broadway Cinema in contrast is a small firm with five screens including two in Mumbai besides one each in Kolkata, Ghaziabad (in Delhi NCR) and Indore.
Carnival Group has interests in media and entertainment with segments like movie production, international concerts, reality shows and wedding planning in India and overseas.
The industry had seen a phase of consolidation with PVR acquiring Cinemax a couple of years ago. Earlier Inox Leisure had acquired Fame and was also in talks to acquire Essel Group-owned Fun Cinemas. The talks eventually did not materialise.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)
