PVR and Inox Leisure Ltd merge to form multiplex giant

Multiplex giants PVR and Inox Leisure Ltd announced the merger of the two companies and turned out to be the one of the biggest business deals of the year, “Merger to bring the two of India’s biggest cinema brands to deliver an unparalleled customer experience with a network of more than 1,500 screens.”, an official statement highlighted. 
INOX will merge with PVR and its shareholders will receive three shares of PVR for every 10 shares held by them in INOX.
The merged entity will be named PVR INOX Ltd with the existing multiplexes called PVR and INOX. New cinemas opened after the merger will be branded PVR INOX.
Ajay Bijli, who is the chairman and managing director of PVR, will be the managing director of the merged entity, while Sanjeev Bijli an executive director.

Pavan Jain, the non-executive chairman of INOX, will be the non- executive chairman of the board. Siddharth Jain would be appointed as non-executive, non-independent director of the combined entity.

A joint statement issued by the companies said the promoters of INOX will become the co-promoters in the amalgamated entity along with the existing promoters of PVR.
The board of directors of the merged company would be reconstituted after the merger. The board will have 10 members with both the promoter families having two seats.
The promoters of PVR will hold a 10.62 % stake in the merged entity, while the promoters of INOX will have 16.66 % holding.
The Bijlis at present hold a little over 17 % in PVR. The promoter holding in INOX stands at around 44 %.
The companies said the combination would augur well for the growth of the multiplex industry and ensure tremendous value creation for all stakeholders, including customers, real estate developers, content producers, technology service providers, the state exchequer and the employees.
The merger is expected to counter the challenges posed by the various OTT platforms and the after-effects of the pandemic. The plan is to expand in smaller towns.
Ajay Bijli, CMD, PVR commented on this and added, “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 centre 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.’’