Poonawalla will buy the stake through his production company, Serene Productions. This is his first major investment outside the pharma sector since 2021 when he bought a 20% stake in the social media platform Wakau Interactive.
“They (Adar and Serum) are trying to fruitfully deploy the large cash pile that the company would have generated from the vaccine sales,” said Vishal Manchanda, research analyst at Systematix Institutional Equities, adding that the investment was “completely unexpected”.
Serum Institute of India has benefitted from sales of its “Covishield” branded vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic, and since then, has also invested in other vaccines for malaria, dengue, and cervical cancer.
“The collaboration aims to further transform content creation, distribution, and audience engagement by integrating advanced technologies and pioneering production methods,” the statement said.
Indian film production houses have struggled to bring back the money invested in new
Bollywood films as a ho-hum movie lineup and rising demand for streaming services kept movie-watchers at home.
The deal values Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions, which produced the celebrity talk show “Koffee with Karan” and Bollywood films such as “Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham” and “My Name Is Khan”, at 20 billion rupees.
($1 = 84.0640 Indian rupees)
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