The Bombay Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Thursday approved the merger between the country’s top two multiplex chains – PVR Limited and INOX Leisure.
The merged entity, to be known as PVR-INOX, will become the largest film exhibition company in India, operating 1,546 screens across 341 properties in 109 cities, according to the merger announcement made earlier.
The branding of existing screens will continue as INOX and PVR, respectively. Only new theatres opened post the merger will be branded as PVR-INOX.
Post merger, PVR's Joint Managing Director Sanjeev Kumar Bijli said the combined entity would have 3,000 to 4,000 screens in five years.
"We would add 200 to 250 screens every year and we are looking in the next five years maybe (as) 3,000 to 4,000 screens company," he said.
PVR is entering into newer cities, especially in the south and east parts of the country, where it has a negligible presence, Bijli said.
PVR is looking for smaller cities, which are unserved and have "high potential", he added.
Besides India, PVR has a small presence in Sri Lanka where it operates nine screens.
Bijli ruled out any further overseas expansion of PVR, saying "we are not looking at any other markets" and would focus on domestic expansion, which has good opportunities.
On 27 March, 2022, PVR and Inox Leisure announced their merger. This has been approved by their respective shareholders, creditors as well as leading bourses NSE and BSE.
The company expects the remaining formalities to be over by the end of this financial year.
At present, PVR operates 884 screens in 77 cities in India and Sri Lanka.
On BSE, PVR shares closed at Rs 1,754.80 apiece up by 2.96%. The company's market cap is around Rs 10,733 crore.
On the other hand, Inox shares closed at Rs 517.60 apiece, up 3.06% on BSE. The company's market cap stood at Rs 6,323 crore.