PhantomFX first south firm to enter SME IPO

CHENNAI: PhantomFx of the city-based Phantom Digital Effects Ltd, a creative visual effects (VFX) studio in India achieved a milestone on Friday when it entered the SME IPO to sell its shares to the public for the first time and get listed in the NSE-Emerge Platform.

PhantomFX is the first south Indian firm to enter the SME IPO. The company proposed to raise Rs 29 cr through the IPO. “The response has been tremendous ever since the company announced its decision to enter the SME IPO, a few months ago and received a whopping 1.7 lakh applications for buying the shares,” said Rajinikanth, CFO, PhantomFx.

Phantom Digital Effects IPO consists of 3,063,600 equity shares of the face value of Rs 10 aggregating up to Rs 29.10 crores. This issue is priced at Rs 91 to Rs 95 per share. The IPO opened on October 12, 2022 and closed on October 14, 2022.

He said the promoters would hold 65 pc of the shares and the balance would be with the public. The money raised through the public issue would be invested into the expansion projects. “This is only the beginning. The company has set up an ambitious plan to enter NASDAQ, the American stock exchange after achieving 2,000 plus placements in the next three years,” he said.

The company plans to set up high end Digital studies in Cochin and Hyderabad and expand its existing facilities in Chennai and Mumbai in a big way. “The Mumbai studio is set for inauguration on December 1 this year. We have already recruited about 250 people,” he said, adding the Cochin and Hyderabad studios would be ready for operation by March next year.

The company has also decided to expand its present digital studio in Chennai and set up digital studios in tier II cities like Coimbatore and Madurai, Bejoy Arputharaj, founder, MD-CEO said.

“PhantomFx, a Trusted Partner Network (TPN) company, is planning to spread its wings overseas by setting up High-End Digital Studios to become a Global industry leader in the next couple of years,” he said. Plans are afoot to establish world class Digital studios at Vancouver and Montreal in Canada, Log Angeles and Delaware in the US, United Kingdom and Dubai. “We are also ambitious to explore other potential offshore markets,” Arputharaj said adding, in all, “we will be investing about $1 million.”

Binu Joshua Sam, director-COO, said PhantomFx is presently contributing to the production, pre and post production of feature films, web series, tele-serials, games, commercials, animated movies and business promotions.

The company has created visual effects for Tamil and Telugu movies, which included Vijay’s Beast, Kamal Hassan’s Vikram, Rajamouli’s epic and action drama RRR and Suriya’s Jai Bhim.