VoxVib

Golden Harvest Entertainment (Holdings) expects Village Roadshow to release a circular containing details of a $180 million general offer for Golden Harvest shares this Saturday.

Village Roadshow, a minority shareholder in Golden Harvest with a 25.3 per cent stake, announced more than two weeks ago it was forming a joint venture with Golden Harvest chairman Raymond Chow Ting-hsing to take a 50.54 per cent interest.

As a result, Village Roadshow was required under listing rules to also make a general offer, at 60 cents per share, for Golden Harvest shares.

Golden Harvest finance director Alan Chow Ping-kay said Village Roadshow had intimated the offer documents would be made available to shareholders on Saturday, barring any unexpected delays.

Village Roadshow's deal comes on the heels of Golden Harvest's controversial $56 million share placement to a trio of investors including Li Ka-shing, Robert Kuok's Kerry (Holdings), and Rupert Murdoch's 20th Century Fox.

Village Roadshow managing director Graham Burke yesterday defended his company's interest in Golden Harvest to Australian media.

'It assures us of having control . . . which is important to us in the long term.' Village Roadshow holds its cinema interests in Asia as equal joint ventures with Golden Harvest. The venture recently opened its first cinema in South Korea.

'Under the arrangement, we will each do what we do best - Village Roadshow will run theatres, while Raymond Chow will network with powerful people right throughout the region,' Mr Burke said.

Mr Burke said he expected the Golden Harvest share purchase to cost about A$11 million (about HK$50.55 million).

He also said the timing was right for a 'judicious expansion in Southeast Asia'.

'There are some extremely good deals to be done,' he said. 'People are still going to the movies . . . admissions are way ahead of last year.'

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