The combined PVR-Inox pipeline has 2,000 screens and is expected to double in the next 7 years

Inox Leisure and PVR, which announced their merger last month, have a combined pipeline of 2,000 screens and plan to double that number in the next seven years with an investment of Rs 4,000 crore. In a Business Update Conference Call with investors after announcing the merger, Inox Leisure Director Siddharth Jain stated that the merged firm would invest capex of Rs 2.5 crore per screen as part of their expansion.

PVR and INOX Leisure announced a merger on March 27 to form the country’s largest multiplex chain, with over 1,500 screens, to capitalise on prospects in tier III, IV, and V cities as well as developed markets. The combined entity will be known as PVR INOX Ltd, with existing screens continuing to be branded as PVR and INOX, respectively. PVR INOX will be the name of new theatres that operate after the merger, the firms said on March 27.

“We have almost 2,000 screens in our pipeline combined,” Jain said in response to a question on the combined entity’s screen count. “Our stated goal is to double our size in the next seven years, which will require at least Rs 4,000 crore in CAPEX (capital expenditure) over the next seven years.” However, he added that only about 50 of the 2,000 screens may be competing with one another.

“Even mall owners would not put it up across the road from each other because they know there is really no point doing that, and we have not looked at it that deeply, yet to see whether there are any places, which we may not go ahead with. We have not dug that deep into it,” Inox Leisure shared a transcript of the conference call with the bourses on Monday, quoting Jain.

The new screen addition will be diverse and across tiers, he added. “It is not that we want to take the movie only to certain Indians. We want to take it everywhere wherever we have potential and there is a market,” Jain added. PVR has 871 screens spread across 181 locations in 73 cities, whereas INOX has 675 screens spread across 160 locations in 72 cities. According to the agreement, INOX will merge with PVR in a share swap ratio of 3 PVR shares for every 10 INOX shares. Following the merger, INOX promoters will join the existing PVR promoters as co-promoters in the merged entity. PVR promoters would own 10.62 percent of the merged firm, while INOX promoters will own 16.66 percent, according to the statement.

Source: PTI