The Myanmar Motion Pictures Development Public Co Ltd (MMPD) is planning to sell 70,000 shares to private investors and individuals working in the industry, managing director of the firm U Mg Mg Oo said.
The shares will be offered at K10,000 each.
“More than 70,000 shares, worth over K700 million, will be sold. This is an effort to develop Myanmar’s film industry. We will set the limit on the amount of shares an individual can buy to a maximum of K50 million in order to prevent monopoly by a single shareholder,” Mg Mg Oo told Myanmar Business Today.
A total of K800 million worth of sharers have already been sold in previous sales, 80 percent of which were bought by players in the industry, he said.
Myanmar’s movie industry faces many obstacles, including the few numbers of cinemas available to individuals to enjoy a show, the lack of intellectual property rights and the profusion of piracy, which also deeply impacts the music industry.
Both industries desperately need investment, a strategic development plan and economic vision, analysts say.
“[The company] said it is working for the development of the film industry. Professionals in the industry need capacity building and we need to increase the amount of cinemas. We also need state support,” said Daw Khin Lay Theint, a Myanmar Motion Picture Organization award-winning producer.
Award-winning actress Daw Swe Zin Htike said many welcome the selling of shares because they believe investing in the industry is best done by public companies, while the Myanmar Motion Picture Organization, a nonprofit oversight body comprising leading industry professionals, seeks to support and regulate the industry rather than commercially invest.
“Myanmar Film Development can provide a creativity investment and also be instrumental in negotiating partnerships with foreign companies,” she said.
The company is also currently building a DVD disc manufacturing plant in No.2 Hlaing Tharyar industrial zone, which is 95 percent finished.
