Redrover, Korea's leading 3D stereoscopic animation producer, will join forces with China's Suning Universal Group to move into the world's largest content market.
The Korean company said on June 16 that it would carry out a capital increase through third-party allocation worth 34.1 billion won for Suning Universal Media. The per-share price was set at 6,361 won.
Suning Universal Group was ranked No. 1 in the top-500 Chinese private sector company list in 2014 with sales revenue of about US$50 billion. Beginning with an electronic goods retailer, it has expanded into real estate development, e-commerce business, and banking. The group has 18,000 store locations and 200,000 employees with large real estate holdings across China. The group established the media unit and opted to work with Redrover to take on China's entertainment market.
With the latest investment, Redrover expects it will be able to see a rapid increase of its business in mobile games, merchandise licensing, and trade shows. In the case of the mobile game business, Redrover will be responsible for game development including development of characters while Suning Group taking charge of global distribution.
Redrover will also be able to open up the distribution channel in China for its upcoming animated films including "Spark" and "The Nut Job 2." According to the Korea Creative Content Agency, the Chinese market for animation is estimated at 100 billion yuan ($16.1 billion) in 2014. Of this, the value of animation-derived merchandising and other products is estimated at 31.6 billion yuan ($5.1 billion).
