Multiplex operator Inox Leisure will add 156 new screens in next two years to take the number of total screens to over 500 including that of Satyam Cineplex which it will acquire in Rs 182 crore deal.
"We would add 156 screens in the next two years. By the end of this financial year, we would add between 60 to 65 screens," said Inox Leisure CEO Alok Tandon.
The new screens would be coming at 18 locations such as Jamnagar, Kurnool, Faridabad and Jaipur this year.
According to Inox Group of companies Director Deepak Asher, 29 screens out of 152 would be from Satyam.
Yesterday, Inox had said that it would acquire Satyam Cineplexes in a Rs 182-crore deal, which would strengthen its presence in North India.
Over funding of the deal, Asher said it would be done through debt.
"Inox group has one of the excellent credit rating with the financial institutions and banks. Therefore we are able to raise it on competitive terms," he said.
Asher added that it would take at least a year to complete the integration of Satyam Cineplex into Inox.
"It would be done in phases. First, there would be operational integrations followed by branding integration and finally legal integration, where the brand Satyam would be merged. It would take 6 to 12 months," he said.
According to Inox CEO Alok Tandon:" We would also have to upgrade some of Satyam's properties and bring them up to our standards".
However, he declined to share the additional investment, which Inox would make to upgrade it.
On being asked about any further acquisition by the Inox, Asher said:"We continuously evaluate the opportunities of acquisition, when some suitable proposal comes which makes financial sense, then we will. We would not acquire just to add the numbers."
It should provide some financial sense and good return on the investment, he added.
Post acquisition, Inox is now present in 50 cities with 91 multiplexes and 358 screens.
Satyam is the third acquisition of Inox in last seven years. In May 2013, Inox had merged Fame India, a multiplex cinema theater firm, with the company after acquiring controlling stake in 2011.
Similarly, in 2007, Calcutta Cinema Private Ltd (CCPL) a West Bengal-based multiplex theater firm was merged with Inox.
Inox Leisure is a part of Inox Group of companies, which run several firms as Inox Air Products, Inox India, Gujarat Fluorochemicals and Inox Wind.
