SINGAPORE, Oct. 31, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Cityneon Holdings ("Cityneon", the "Company"/collectively with its subsidiaries, the "Group") is pleased to announce Pavilion Capital's investment in Cityneon.
Pavilion Capital, a Singapore-based investment institution which focuses on private equity investments, will be part of Cityneon's institutional investors including Singapore government-linked global investor, EDBI which invested in August 2019, and CITIC Capital Holdings Limited ("CITIC Capital"), an affiliate of CITIC Group and one of China's largest multinational conglomerate corporations managing over US$25 billion of assets across the world, which invested in May 2019. Together with Hong Kong veteran entrepreneur and investor Mr. Johnson Ko, and Executive Chairman & Group CEO of Cityneon, Mr. Ron Tan, they form a solid base of investors of the Company.
"We are thrilled and honored to have yet another strong and established investor like Pavilion Capital on board, especially during this time of exponential growth in the Company," said Ron Tan, Executive Chairman and Group CEO of the Group who was recently awarded the EY Entrepreneur of the Year. "Transformation is a process and Cityneon's continued evolution into a leading global experience entertainment player is right on track," Mr. Tan added.
Cityneon currently partners with large global movie studios such as The Walt Disney Company, Marvel, Hasbro, Universal Studios, and Lionsgate on their intellectual properties ("IPs") to curate, create and construct immersive and experiential experiences for worldwide visitors. The Group has toured the IPs in over 40 cities now and has extensive plans to move into new markets such as the United States, where the Group had recently announced their partnership with Round Room Live, owned by global independent studio Entertainment One (eOne) and was recently acquired by Hasbro for US$4b, for a 2-year U.S. & Canada Tour of Jurassic World: The Exhibition starting from Q4, 2020.
The Group is also set to expand their presence in China and beyond via Cityneon's partnership with Wanda Group, a Chinese multinational conglomerate based in Beijing, with the launch of the inaugural Jurassic World: The Exhibition in China in January 2020, beginning with Chengdu, followed by other major cities in a two-year tour. The timely launch would be riding on the growing momentum of consumer trends towards experience entertainment in China, as well as the recent announcement of the highly anticipated Jurassic World 3 movie due to be released in June 2021. Cityneon plans to boost the number of global relationships it has with major studios and further secure new IPs by the end of 2019.
Cityneon's expansion of its headquarters in Singapore is underway with the priority placed on the building of a Creative & Design team to develop multi-sensory experiential engagements, in addition to the ongoing R&D of Cityneon's self-owned IPs by end of 2020. The Company's Group Chief Creative Officer, Welby Altidor, will be relocating to Singapore in 2020 to direct the Group's global creative efforts in experience entertainment by blending cutting-edge storytelling tools and time-tested artistic approaches, leading to the creation of a new generation of globally impactful, memorable and meaningful experiential projects that provide guests with lasting memories.
Cityneon Holdings
With its global reach and international partnerships, Cityneon has the capability to serve its clients anywhere in the world. Cityneon was listed on the Mainboard of the Singapore Stock Exchange since 2005, and was privatized on February 2019 by West Knighton Limited, a company wholly owned by Cityneon's Executive Chairman and Group CEO Ron Tan together with Hong Kong veteran entrepreneur and investor Johnson Ko Chun Shun. Johnson is a capital markets veteran and has held controlling interests and directorships in many listed companies. In May 2019, Cityneon welcomed CITIC Capital as a new shareholder, who holds 10.36% shares in Cityneon. CITIC Capital is part of CITIC Group, one of China's largest conglomerates, and has over US$25b of assets under its management across 100 funds and investment products globally. Most recently in August 2019, EDBI, a Singapore government-linked global investor, made a strategic investment in Cityneon to support the Group for further expansion globally.
