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Sankar Radhakrishnan

Thiruvananthapuram, May 2 Standard Chartered Bank is evaluating a proposal to finance a series of animation films and serials to be produced by Toonz Animation, a subsidiary of Singapore-based Toonz Entertainment Pte Ltd.

Mr Lee Beasley, Head of Media and Entertainment, Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Ltd said that the bank is looking at funding a “slate of projects” from Toonz Animation.

While declining to reveal the amount the bank will provide, he added that the deal will be closed soon. A few months back, Standard Chartered Bank had provided a loan of $4 million to Toonz Animation for the production of the animation series Wolverine and the X-Men.

According to Mr P. Jayakumar, CEO, Toonz Entertainment, 10 animation projects are being evaluated by Standard Chartered Bank, including films such as Mostly Ghostly based on the work of R. L Stine and Santa Claus and the Play Mobil series. The total value of the investment in these projects is estimated to be $200 million, he revealed.

Based in Hong Kong, the media and entertainment department of Standard Chartered Bank was set up in 2004. It provides finance to television series, animated content, live action projects and feature films in Asia, West Asia and Africa, Mr Beasley said.

The bank is, for instance, financing the John Woo film Battle of Red Cliff, which is currently being produced with a budget of $70 million.

While the department has no dedicated media and entertainment team in India, it does work through other departments of the bank in the country.

More Stories on : Foreign Banks | Cinema | Kerala

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