Mukta Arts acquires majority stake in Coruscant Tec

Mumbai: Media and entertainment company Mukta Arts has announced the acquisition of mobile content and application company, Coruscant Tec.

The entertainment marque acquired a 51-per cent stake in Coruscant Tec in an all cash deal for an unspecified amount. Mukta Arts is promoted by filmmaker Subhash Ghai.

Mukta Arts is a well known name in the Indian entertainment industry, and has outlined plans to further consolidate its position with the acquisition of Coruscant Tec by adding another dimension to its entertainment portfolio.

''The acquisition of Coruscant Tec is a logical step towards launching Mukta's web and mobile digital initiatives and entering the VAS space,"said Subhash Ghai, chairman, Mukta Arts. "Mukta is a content creation company and Coruscant Tec offers content delivery solutions in the new media space. We expect synergies arising out of short format content created by Mukta or Whistling Woods students and released through the tie-ups Coruscant has with various Telecom Companies such as Vodafone, Reliance, VSNL, Tata Teleservices as well as other partners''.

Ajay Adiseshann, founder and managing director of Coruscant Tec said, ''Several players, wishing to consolidate or enter the mobile VAS space, have expressed interest in our company. We found that Mukta Arts with its command over the complete entertainment value chain in India was the best fit to provide the necessary scale and boost to the business, which is currently a $1 billion market growing at 40 per cent annually and expected to become a $4 billion market by 2010.''

The deal gives the Mukta Arts the option of acquiring the remaining 49 per cent as well.

Established in 2003 by Ajay Adiseshann and Probir Roy, Coruscant Tec says that it is one of the pioneers of content and applications related to the mobile value added services space (MVAS). These include ringtones, wallpapers, video on demand, applications, m-comics, mobizines, mobiepisodes and java games.