Popular multiplex brands PVR and INOX Leisure announced a merger post a top level meeting held on Sunday. The new entity named as PVR Inox will aim to ‘deliver unparalleled movie-going experience’ and fight the OTT onslaught.
Post the merger, PVR promoters will have a 10.62 per cent stake while Inox promoters will have a 16.66 per cent stake in the combined entity.
“With PVR currently operating 871 screens across 181 properties in 73 cities and INOX operating 675 screens across 160 properties in 72 cities, the combined entity will become the largest film exhibition company in India operating 1546 screens across 341 properties across 109 cities,” they said in a statement.
For the revamped setup, Ajay Bijli would be appointed as the managing director and Sanjeev Kumar would be the executive director. Pavan Kumar Jain will be named as the non- executive chairman of the board, while Siddharth Jain will serve as non-executive non-independent director in the combined entity.
“This is a momentous occasion that brings together two companies with significantly complementary strengths. The partnership of these two brands will put consumers at the center of its vision and deliver an unparalleled movie-going experience to them. The film exhibition sector has been one of the worst impacted sectors on account of the pandemic and creating scale to achieve efficiencies is critical for the long term survival of the business and fight the onslaught of digital OTT platforms,” Bijli said.
INOX Leisure director Jain said, “Coming together of two iconic cinema brands, which are driven by passion, is certainly the most historic moment in the Indian cinema exhibition industry. Both companies have set high service benchmarks in an endeavour to offer the best cinema experience in the world, to the most passionate moviegoers, and would continue to do so as a unified entity.”
The new entity will be named PVR Inox with the branding of existing screens to continue as PVR and INOX, respectively. New cinemas opened post the merger will be branded as PVR INOX.
