Imagi Raises $30 Million

Imagi International Holdings Ltd., the company behind TMNT and the upcoming CG-animated feature films Astro Boy and Gatchaman, continues to raise funds to help finance more animated movies. Two separate subscription agreements have recently brought in $30 million, and both are expected to be completed later this month once regulatory procedures have been completed.

The first agreement, the terms of which were originally announced to the stock exchange on Sept. 3, is with a wholly-owned subsidiary of Shui On Holdings Ltd. The subscriber will invest $10 million for approximately 90.6 million new shares. Under the original agreement, Sunni International Ltd., a controlling shareholder in Imagi, was to provide the Shui On subsidiary with an additional 40 million gift shares. Sunni has since advised that it will transfer a further 30 million gift shares to the new investor, bringing the total shares to 209.95 million, representing a 10.99% ownership stake in Imagi.

The second agreement, announced to the stock exchange on September 12, has been made with Mehta-Imagi LLC, which will invest $20 million for approximately 181.2 million new shares. Sunni has agreed to transfer an additional 140 million gift shares to Mehta-Imagi, bringing the total shares owned by Mehta-Imagi to 321.2 million, representing a 16.82% ownership stake in Imagi.

‘Investors have been visiting our studios to see firsthand the quality and commercial potential of the films Imagi has in production,’ says Imagi CEO Douglas Glen. ‘This investment round marks a major vote of confidence that our films will compete successfully with the best that Hollywood has to offer.’

The proceeds of the two transactions will be used for the development of four feature-length, computer-generated movies, including Astro Boy and Gatchaman. Earlier this year, Imagi announced that it had entered into a global alliance with Summit Ent., which will distribute Astro Boy worldwide, except for Imagi’s reserved territories of Japan, Hong Kong and China.

Slated for worldwide theatrical release in 2009, Astro Boy is being directed by David Bowers (Flushed Away) and will feature the voices of Freddie Highmore, Nicolas Cage, Donald Sutherland, Bill Nighy, Nathan Lane and Eugene Levy. The film is based on the manga and anime created by Japan’s legendary Osamu Tezuka in the early 1950s.

Gatchaman is based on the classic anime TV series Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, which debuted in the 1970s and is better known in the U.S. as Battle of the Planets or G-Force. Imagi’s CG update is being directed by Kevin Munroe (TMNT), and is expected to hit theaters in 2010.