(Yicai) Sept. 20 -- Alibaba Pictures Group's stock price jumped after the Chinese film production company said it plans to acquire Pony Media Holdings, the operator of online ticketing platform Damai, for USD167 million. 

Shares of Alibaba Pictures [HKG: 1060] closed 5.5 percent higher at 58 Hong Kong cents (7 US cents) each in Hong Kong today, after earlier soaring by as much as 9.1 percent.

To complete the deal, Alibaba Pictures will issue 2.5 billion shares at 52 Hong Kong cents apiece to Alibaba Investment, the parent firm of Pony Media, the Hong Kong-based movie producer said yesterday.

The deal is expected to be completed next quarter, when the stake of Alibaba Investment's parent firm Alibaba Group Holding in Alibaba Pictures will increase to about 54 percent.

Established in 2004, Pony Media was acquired by Alibaba Group in 2017. Through Damai, it provides production, promotion, and ticketing services for live performances, including concerts, musical festivals, live house shows, plays, sports events, and exhibitions. It has operated 1.8 million events and has more than 100 million registered users.

“We believe this transaction heralds a new chapter for the new Alibaba Pictures,” Li Jie, the producer’s president, said in a press release. “We have already established deep connection with Damai through our exclusive service agreement, and accumulated over 20 million Taomai VIP members to date.”

Launched in July 2021, Taomai VIP is Alibaba Pictures’ membership program.

By expanding the upstream presence of Damai in the live entertainment industry value chain, including events production and promotion, venue operation, and artist management, Alibaba Pictures will further build brand awareness for its offline entertainment business, it pointed out.

Pony Media had revenue of CNY133 million (USD18.2 million) in the year ended March 31, 2021, reaching CNY304 million the year after and standing at CNY228 million last fiscal year. Its net loss was about CNY577 million, CNY141 million, and CNY229 million, respectively, as offline events were hit by the pandemic. Last quarter, its gross merchandise volume was over CNY4 billion (USD548.3 million).

In the fiscal year ended March 31, Alibaba Pictures had a net loss of CNY221 million after revenue fell 4 percent to CNY3.5 billion from a year ago.

Editor: Martin Kadiev