BEIJING, July 5, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bona Film Group Limited ("Bona" or the "Company") (Nasdaq:BONA), a leading film distributor in China, today announced that it has acquired 100% of the equity interest in Beijing Bona Starlight Cineplex Management Co., Ltd. ("Bona Starlight"), an affiliated company of Bona Film Group that focuses primarily on the operation of movie cinemas in China. The transaction will strengthen the Company's film distribution network and expand Bona's movie theater business. Total consideration for the agreement is RMB 200 million, or approximately US$30.9 million.
"We believe building a strong movie theater network will take our distribution strategy to the next level of sophistication," said Mr. Dong Yu, Bona's founder, chairman and chief executive officer. "Bona Starlight will expand our movie theater segment and increase our on-site presence in top box office grossing cities, which will in turn benefit our film distribution business. We believe our cinema managers will also function as local distribution managers, monitoring the distribution process to make sure Bona films are distributed smoothly, trailers are exhibited properly and advertisement backdrops are displayed strategically."
Mr. Yu continued, "A film distributor with a meaningful number of cinemas will differentiate Bona from other film distributors, giving us a competitive advantage as we continue to grow prudently in the quarters ahead. We believe the integration will be smooth as Bona Starlight has the same business model as the listed-company and its management team has previous experience managing Bona's cinemas before they were acquired by Bona. Bona's movie theater segment has established a track record for strong and stable revenue contribution, which also provides a healthy cash flow for the Company. Going forward, Bona will continue to execute our cinema-supported distribution strategy by further acquiring cinemas from unrelated third parties."
Bona Starlight currently has four fully operational cinemas, two in Beijing, one in Chongqing and one in Tianjin. In addition, Bona Starlight has seven cinemas at various stages of construction across China, which are all expected to be operational by the end of this year. Bona Starlight's operations will augment Bona's current movie theater business, which was acquired in April 2010. At the end of the first quarter 2011, Bona's movie theater business consisted of six theaters across China.
About Bona Film Group Limited
Bona Film Group Limited (Nasdaq:BONA) is a leading film distributor in China, with an integrated business model encompassing film distribution, film production, film exhibition and talent representation. Bona distributes films to Europe, Greater China, Korea, Southeast Asia and the United States, invests and produces movies in a variety of genres, owns and operates six movie theaters and manages a range of talented and popular Chinese artists.
For more information about Bona, please visit http://www.bonafilm.cn.
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About Beijing Bona Starlight Cineplex Management Co., Ltd.
Bona Starlight is a Bona Film Group Limited (Nasdaq:BONA) affiliated company focused on the build-up and operation of green field movie cinemas. Prior to the closing of the above acquisition, Bona Starlight was majority-owned by Bona Film Group Limited founder, chairman and chief executive officer Yu Dong.
Safe Harbor Statement
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