Downtown Bangkok, Thailand, where both Major Cineplex Group and M Pictures are based. Photo Credit: Andreas Brücker
Thailand-born rapper and entertainer Khanngoen Nuanual has officially acquired Bangkok-headquartered film distributor M Pictures.
The veteran artist’s M Pictures buyout came to light in a report from Variety and a corresponding regulatory filing, which indicates that the transaction formally wrapped on May 26th. First detailed back in February, the purchase has seen the Thaitanium member Nuanual secure from Major Cineplex Group 1,202,130,480 shares in M Pictures, or 92.46 percent of the company, the mentioned filing shows.
Traded as MAJOR on Thailand’s stock exchange, Major Cineplex bills itself as the Asian nation’s leading movie-theater operator. The 28-year-old business also dabbles in bowling, karaoke, ice skating, and other forms of entertainment. And besides operating in Thailand (population 72 million), Major Cineplex is said to have a considerable presence in Laos (7.5 million residents) and Cambodia (17 million).
Meanwhile, M Pictures (MPIC on the same exchange) has racked up some 600 million views on its YouTube channel and reported ฿626.41 million (currently $18.10 million) in assets as of March 31st. Bearing in mind the latter sum, Khanngoen “Khan” Nuanual put up roughly ฿650 million ($18.78 million) for the shares in question, the filing shows.
Notably, the figure, reflecting a per-share purchase price of ฿0.54 (nearly two cents American), is well beneath MPIC’s current value of ฿2.54 (about seven cents), which marks an over seven percent falloff on the day but a 77 percent boost from 2023’s beginning. Additionally, Major Cineplex stock was worth ฿15.20 (44 cents) per share, for an approximately two percent slip since Wednesday’s market close and a north of 17 percent falloff from the year’s start.
According to Variety, Nuanual is expected to make an offer for the remaining 7.54 percent of M Pictures before July’s conclusion. At the time of this writing, however, Nuanual didn’t appear to have publicly addressed (at least to stateside media) his exact plans for M Pictures.
But the acquisition arrives amid rapid entertainment industry growth for Thailand and other markets in Asia, where Believe reported a significant jump in 2022 and Q1 2023 revenue. Specifically in Thailand, Live Nation last year bought the live division of TERO, whereas SESAC Digital and Wise Music Australia in February of 2023 unveiled a licensing deal covering the country.
Also worth noting is the continued global expansion of Thai entertainment businesses; Bangkok’s S2O Songkran Music Festival is now preparing to arrive in Sanya (later in June), Seoul (July), and Hong Kong as well as Taipei (both in August).