The new entity will launch a nine-day event that will include a film festival showcasing movies from South Asia and the MENA region.
Singapore-based media investment holding company Vistas Media Capital (VMC) has announced its expansion plans in the Middle East across the media and entertainment sector and investment management initiative for investors in the MENA region.
VMC has set up Vistas Media FZ-LLC in Abu Dhabi‘s Media Free Zone’s twofour54 for content and entertainment events production services in the region, and also plans to move to twofour54’s new tailormade campus Yas Creative Hub after it opens later this year.
The content production services arm of Vistas Media FZ-LLC will focus on providing and facilitating pre-filming, production and post-production services for Arabic, Bollywood (along with other Indian regional languages) and Hollywood films in Abu Dhabi.
The event production services vertical would be launching the first Abu Dhabi Media Fest in November 2021 – a nine-day mega event which would include a Film Festival showcasing films from the South Asian and MENA region selected by an international jury; a Film Market bringing together film-makers, investors, and content buyers; Masterclasses and workshops across filmmaking, acting, production, animation, and visual effects; Gala music concerts bringing together the best of South Asian and Arab world musicians on a common platform; and a gala closing ceremony with a Film Awards Night showcasing the best of MENA and South Asian films.
Vistas Media FZ-LLC will be headed by Piiyush Singh who is also the co-founder of VMC.
In a statement, Piiyush said: “So far, we have successfully built and grown the Indian content production, distribution and media investment business and invested in select Hollywood productions. The strategic location of Abu Dhabi allows us to continue to deepen our footprint in India and also expand our experience, network and offerings in the Arab world through producing / co-producing and supporting local content makers to create high-quality content. In recent years, Asian content from India, Korea, China and other markets have reached a wider global audience with the boom in digital content consumption. The timing is now perfect for quality Arabic content to reach a wider global audience.”
Katrina Anderson, Director of Commercial Services at twofour54 Abu Dhabi, added: “We are excited to welcome a significant and respected player on the global media stage such as VMC to Abu Dhabi. This is a key moment for the capital’s fast-growing media and entertainment sector, which reinforces its position as the region’s beacon for quality content creation. Being at the centre of the world’s fastest-growing populations, the demand for high-quality Arabic and international content is on the rise, representing tangible growth opportunities for media companies across the globe. We very much look forward to witnessing the positive impact that VMC will create within the regional media landscape right from the heart of Abu Dhabi.”
Through the newly established Abu Dhabi entity, the company now plans to organise the Abu Dhabi Media Fest which will be executed on a much larger scale and bring together the best of MENA and South Asian content and artists.
VMC also has immediate plans to set up a $150m+ multi-strategy investment fund, leveraging its expertise across SPACs and content speciality financing within the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) for investors in the MENA region to derive returns from the two asset classes globally – The entire ecosystem of SPACs (from funding sponsor capital, investing in a portfolio of SPACs as an IPO investor and for PIPE financing) and pre-IPO financing for companies across key focus sectors in MENA and across the globe and structured finance in the content space across films, web series, music in India and the MENA region.
VMC has already set up two funds for each of the above strategies under the name Vistas Global Opportunities Funs SPC in Cayman Islands, targeting the global investor community outside of the USA.
Sandeep Mishra, Regional Head of Vistas International DMCC, stated: “We have carefully evaluated all the gaps and the demand that exist in this region across the media and entertainment sector and the need for an investment platform that offers unique global investment opportunities for local MENA based investors. Post the landmark Anghami transaction, with the setup of our media company in Abu Dhabi and now with the two disruptive funds, we believe we will be able to bridge these gaps and offer unique investment solutions for asset managers, investment funds, family offices and high-net-worth investors in the region.”
Earlier on March 3, 2021, VMAC announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement that will result in Anghami becoming the first Arab technology company to list on Nasdaq. The transaction implies a Pro-forma enterprise value of $220m.
