Entertainment Capital Advisors has launched with the aim of advising growth companies and companies wishing to divest or acquire others in the entertainment sector. It is looking to raise between $500m and $1billion of capital for these companies over the next three years.

ECA will provide strategic advisory and corporate finance advice to a range of entertainment companies in the film, TV and music sectors. The company has already been formally engaged to advise on a number of projects across Europe, the Middle East and the Far East, including:

* A $200 million private placement for a family-run Middle East fund, which will invest in major international film projects.

* Advising a major UK-based international film sales, distribution and marketing company on corporate strategy and a capital raising.

* Enabling a Japanese film production company to execute projects on the international stage.

The firm is co-founded by Premila Hoon OBE, the former global head of media and entertainment structured finance at Société Générale, and a distinguished team of senior executives. Over the course of a decade with SG, Premila structured and arranged financing for a range of high profile clients such as Luc Besson’s company EuropaCorp, Montecito Pictures headed by Tom Pollock and Ivan Reitman, Castle Rock Entertainment headed by Martin Shafer and Marvel Entertainment, currently being acquired by Disney. She led several major film financing transactions, including the US$570m co-financing transaction between Twentieth Century Fox and Dune Entertainment and the $200m co-financing between Paramount and Cold Spring Pictures. Prior to this, she spent over 10 years at Guinness Mahon providing finance to high-profile independent film production companies such as Working Title, Merchant Ivory and Capitol Films.

She has leveraged this experience to assemble a group of senior executives with a strong range of finance and entertainment experience. Among them are Nicole Finnan, former Commercial and Finance Director of Ecosse Films Limited, and François Thos, former Chief Operating Officer and board member of United Artists Films in London.

Also on ECA’s board is Julian Paul, the former Managing Director of Guinness Mahon & Co Limited and Mark Brooke, fellow co-founder of ECA and co-founder of Aramid Capital Partners, a $300m media and entertainment fund that has financed over 50 films and made other high profile strategic investments.

ECA will be identifying and developing companies with high investment potential from around the world that have strong underlying business models, and are seeking specialist expertise to enable them to grow to the next level.

The company is owned by management and Aramid Asset Management Limited, a UK based Asset Manager active in the media sector. The principal investors in Aramid Asset Management are Stonehenge Capital Company, LLC, a US specialty finance firm and Future Capital Partners, a UK based alternative investment boutique. They have, between them, concluded over $10 billion of media financing transactions.

Premila Hoon, Managing Director of ECA, commented: “The film industry has been remarkably resilient through the recession. However, recent macroeconomic events have led to a fundamental shift in the way entertainment projects are going to be financed. ECA will adapt to this environment by using the extensive experience of its executives to create innovative, bespoke financing solutions for companies across the entertainment sector. There are unique opportunities in the sector which in areas continue to experience high levels of growth, for example box office revenues rose by 3.8% in 2008 despite the economic downturn, and are expected to rise by 4.4% in 2009 to $29.5bn.”