 "Manmohan Shetty")
ICICI Venture, one of the largest private equity firms in India with assets under management of around $2 billion, is gearing up to invest about Rs 150 crore in Adlabs Imagica, a theme park near Khopoli on the Mumbai-Pune expressway operated by Adlabs Entertainment Limited.
This will be ICICI Ventures' first investment in the theme park entertainment space. The PE company has so far invested in various areas including retail, aviation, real estate, media and software content, etc.
When contacted, an ICICI Venture spokesperson declined to comment on the deal.
Opened in April 2013, Adlabs Imagica is a Rs 1,600-crore theme park spread over 300 acres. It offers entertainment, dining, shopping and accommodation. The park can accommodate as many as 20,000 visitors a day and is targeting to host over three million visitors in the first year of operations.
The park aims to bring the "international experience" to India, so that Indians don't need to go to Disney, Universal or any of the international theme parks.
According to sources close to the development, the investments will be used to partly fund a new water-park and a hotel at the site. The company is also reported to be planning to launch similar parks in Hyderabad and some other cities.
Adlabs Imagica is promoted by Manmohan Shetty, a film industry veteran who earlier sold off his business Adlabs Films to Anil Ambani's Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. Earlier, he had built a large media pre- and post-production business and is often considered the father of the Indian multiplex industry with theatres across the country.
Starting in 2008, Shetty together with his team conceptualised, designed and executed the Imagica project, which was completed both within the budget and well before time. Nearly all the equipment for the rides have been imported from the US and Europe from leading ride manufacturers, and the design and implementation of the park was managed by globally-reputed consultants. Shetty has leveraged his experiences from the film and content industries to develop themes around these rides that appeal to Indian audiences
Apart from rides, Adlabs Imagica also has restaurants of different cuisines and themes on site.
