Entertainment, Media & IT Finance


Established in 2003, our Media and Entertainment Group offers outstanding analytics, strategic planning and transactional skills within the context of financial advisory and investment banking services. As part of our services, we also set up cross-border alliances, identify strategic and operating risks in company forecasts, help determine enterprise values and assess transaction strategies for our entertainment and media clients. Group partners are industry experts in Korean entertainment and mobile content who have founded and led media and entertainment enterprises in Korea. The result is a vital mix of operating experience and financial sophistication required by our clients.

The entertainment and media industry enjoys large and growing market potential. Due to the advent of new technologies and content distribution platforms, broad governmental deregulation, volatile capital markets, and ever-changing corporate strategies, the entertainment and media industry has continued to evolve. New players have emerged and consolidation has changed the face of the industry. Therefore, media and entertainment companies must navigate through an era of wholesale change brought about by disruptive technologies, distribution changes and regulatory overhaul. In this dynamic environment, looking backward at past results is no guide for future success.

Media and entertainment companies need investment bankers who can look forward based on the operational realities of their industry. They need advisors who know the client’s business from the outset; advisors who will connect them to the leaders in converging industries; advisors who can master the complexities of a strategic transaction - be it new financing, acquisition, sale or restructuring. They need advisors with the analytical sophistication and experience necessary to render advice and opinions on a wide range of business valuation issues. And they need advisors who can see beyond a specific transaction to the core issue of adding value to their business.

We are focusing on new financing opportunities in convergence industries, namely media, IT and digital content. Our clients are leading edge providers of new technologies and we are helping to establish partnerships, alliances and global investment. At its best, information technology has the power to disrupt industries and transform how business is done. Leading companies are already tapping into that power by rethinking business strategies, processes and management practices: reshaping companies and cultures, recasting infrastructures and product portfolios, and most importantly, achieving exceptional business results. IT today helps other business functions in a company and helps them anticipate what’s lurking in the business environment and competitive moves of others. In many cases, companies also face the unenviable task of anchoring a transformational vision throughout the company, overcoming barriers to change and building organizational support in the face of significant resistance.

Selected Assignments:

• We are advising and arranging project structure and international investment partners for a US$400 million digital theme park in Asia.
  
  
• For a leading Asian digital content production company, we are advising on:
  
  
  
  
  • US$100 million equity investment and debt syndication for a structured on line game fund in collaboration with US and European game developers and publishers.
    
    
  • US$50 million structured finance animation deal for co-production with a major studio in US.
    
    
• We are advising a Hollywood film production company on investment in a 20-movie production fund by Asian interests.
  
  
• We advised an Asian wireless modem company on international strategic partnering and M&A.
  
  
• We advised a listed Korean IT company on US venture capital investment of US$20 million into their globally recognized enterprise software subsidiary.
  
  
• We advised a Korean company on financial and strategic investors for its identity management and mobile service platform business.
  
  
• We advised a Korean insurance company on sponsoring and launching a new e-commerce business with global strategic partners.
  
  
• We advised a Korean smart phone design company on international strategic and financial investors.
  
  
• We advised Korean handset and RF chip manufacturers on fundraising and strategic partnering globally.