Downtown Bangkok, Thailand where both Major Cineplex Group and M Pictures are based. Photo credit: Andreas Brucker
Thai-born rapper and entertainer Khanngoen Nuanual has officially acquired Bangkok-based film distributor M Pictures.
The veteran artist’s acquisition of M Pictures was brought to light in a Variety report and related regulatory filing, showing the transaction officially closed on May 26. The purchase, first announced in February, has resulted in Thaitanium member Nuanual acquiring 1,202,130,480 shares of M Pictures, or 92.46 percent of the company, from major Cineplex Group, according to the said filing.
Trading as MAJOR on the Thai Stock Exchange, Major Cineplex describes itself as the Asian country’s leading cinema operator. The 28-year-old company is also involved in bowling, karaoke, ice skating and other forms of entertainment. And in addition to operating in Thailand (population 72 million), Major Cineplex is also said to have a significant presence in Laos (population 7.5 million) and Cambodia (population 17 million).
Meanwhile, M Pictures (MPIC on the same exchange) has accumulated around 600 million views on its YouTube channel reported Assets of ฿626.41 million (currently $18.10 million) as of March 31. Taking into account the latter sum, Khanngoen “Khan” Nuanual spent approximately ฿650 million (US$18.78 million) on the shares in question, the filing shows.
Notably, the number, which reflects a purchase price per share of ฿0.54 (nearly two cents American), is well below MPIC’s current value of ฿2.54 (about seven cents), a decline of over seven percent on the day, but a 77 percent decline means a percent increase since the start of 2023. Additionally, Major Cineplex stock was worth ฿15.20 (44 cents) a share, down about 2 percent since the market closed on Wednesday and corresponds to a decline of more than 17 percent since the beginning of the year.
According to Variety, Nuanual is expected to make an offer for the remaining 7.54 percent of M Pictures before closing in July. However, at the time of writing, Nuanual doesn’t appear to have publicly addressed (at least to the US media) its exact plans for M Pictures.
However, the acquisition comes amid the rapid growth of the entertainment industry in Thailand and other markets in Asia, where Believe reported a significant increase in revenue in 2022 and the first quarter of 2023. Specifically, in Thailand, Live Nation bought TERO’s live division last year, while SESAC Digital and Wise Music Australia announced a licensing deal for the country in February 2023.
Also worth noting is the continued worldwide expansion of Thai entertainment companies; Bangkok’s S2O The Songkran Music Festival is currently preparing for its arrival in Sanya (later in June), Seoul (July) and Hong Kong and Taipei (both in August).