Japanese Content Provider To Turn Kuala Lumpur Into Regional Hub

SERI KEMBANGAN (Selangor, Malaysia), Dec 10 (Bernama) -- Japanese entertainment content provider Kadokawa Corporation is turning Kuala Lumpur into a hub for the Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern markets. This is following the acquisition of a 80 per cent stake in the Malaysian Art Square Group (ASG) by Kadokawa's unit, the Hong Kong-based Kadokawa Holdings Asia Ltd. ASG will be known as Kadokawa Gempak Starz Sdn Bhd from next month and will serve as a development base for the two potential markets. Kadokawa Gempak Starz Chief Executive Officer Yew Chen Han said priority would be given to strengthen original content creation for the Bahasa Malaysia (Malay language), Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian language) and Arabic language markets. "The overseas contribution to the company's revenue is expected to increase to 40 percent, driven by comics sales," he said, adding that the company's current revenue stood at about US$7.03 million (RM30 million). Kadokawa Corporation on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding with InvestKL to mark its selection of the Greater Kuala Lumpur as the group's strategic regional gateway. Yew also noted that revenue from comics publication is expected to increase threefold in five years' time. Meanwhile, the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) Chief Executive Officer Idris Jala said Malaysia is poised to capture a bigger slice of the creative content industry, with Kadokawa positioning Kuala Lumpur as its export hub for Southeast Asia and Middle East. The global creative content industry is expected to be valued at US$10.1 trillion (US$1 = RM4.27) by 2019, while Malaysia's creative multimedia industry currently worth about US$438.38 million (RM1.87 billion)," he added. Idris said Malaysia attracted over 100 regional establishments with investments amounted to US$703.28 million (RM3 billion) in the first half of 2015. "We have also secured four Global Operation Hub projects with investments valued at US$609.51 million (RM2.6 billion) in the services sector," he added. --BERNAMA