Khazanah divesting entire stake in Iskandar Malaysia Studios

KUALA LUMPUR (April 10): Khazanah Nasional Bhd’s wholly-owned special purpose vehicle, Granatum Ventures Sdn Bhd, has entered into a definitive share sale agreement to divest its 100% stake in Iskandar Malaysia Studios Sdn Bhd (IMS) to Studio Management Services Sdn Bhd (SMS) to attract foreign investment as well as bringing economic and social benefits into Malaysia.

In a statement on Monday (April 10), it said SMS is a consortium led by IMS’s current Malaysian management team in partnership with Singapore’s GHY Culture & Media Holding Co Ltd and its subsidiary, GHY Culture & Media (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd.

Khazanah said that the sale would be for a 100% stake in the operating company, IMS, which is leasing the land where the studio premises are located from Tanjung Bidara Ventures Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned special purpose vehicle of Khazanah.

It also said that SMS is expected to further enhance the services provided by Iskandar Malaysia Studios to the industry, as well as facilitate future partnerships and production opportunities for Malaysia.

“The collaboration and crowd-in of Malaysian entrepreneurs and capable regional partners would catalyse further growth and development of the ecosystem in IMS,” it said.

Khazanah said the partnership would contribute to higher utilisation of the studio by regional and global players, which could be supported by the local production ecosystem along with the better capacity to attract large productions and the sharing of a large content production pipeline.

“Khazanah remains committed to retaining the positive economic spillover benefits on the social economy while aligning its strategic imperatives of advancing Malaysia, ensuring value creation, capacity building and societal impact for the country,” it added.