Compudyne acquires Hollywood based special effects studio

NEW DELHI: Bangalore based Compudyne Winfosystems Ltd. (CWL) has announced

its acquisition of Vision Art, the Santa Monica Studio's arm that produces

visual effects for a consideration of US $ 4 million. Vision Art is being

renamed as Digital Art Media (DAM) and will remain in its current 8500 sq. feet

studio. CWL will expand the studio by 3500 sq. feet.

The total consideration for the acquisition of business assets of Vision Art

Design & Animation Inc., USA is $ 4 million. Out of which $2 million is paid

in cash and the balance by issue of 5,68,485 equity shares of Compudyne

Winfosystems Ltd. The equity shares are of face value of Rs 10 each and issued

at a premium of Rs 155 per share. The shares are issued to the parent company of

Vision Art, Santa Monica Studios.

Longtime VFX executive producer and supervisor Marc Kolbe, Vision Art's vice

president for the last two years, was instrumental in bringing this deal to

fruition. Kolbe has been named DAM's president. He will remain involved in

creating VFX solutions while devoting time to managing the studio.

"This quadruples our staff, thanks to the 200 highly skilled programmers

and engineers at our disposal in India," Kolbe said. "A second

facility to be built in India will house an additional 300 VFX artists. That

site, because of its location halfway around the globe, allows DAM to work on

projects 24 hours a day.