Back to press releasesNewark, N.J., May 9, 2005 – IDT Entertainment today announced that Anchor Bay Entertainment has closed a Credit Agreement with a bank group led by J.P. Morgan Chase Bank. The Credit Agreement provides for a $50 million, five-year, secured revolving credit facility which may be increased to up to $75 million. IDT Entertainment is a subsidiary of IDT Corporation (NYSE: IDT, IDT.C), an international telecom, entertainment, and technology company.
“If there’s one reality in Hollywood, it’s that acquiring great scripts or producing compelling programming requires financing,” said Jim Courter, IDT’s CEO. “This special relationship with J.P. Morgan represents more than just money. It’s a vote of confidence from the financial community that our plan to make IDT Entertainment a global production, distribution, and entertainment company will be successful.”
The credit facility provides funding for the production of live action and animated feature films and television series by IDT Entertainment’s New Arc Entertainment, a subsidiary specializing in the production of supernatural/thriller/action genre properties. It will also fund the acquisition of additional titles for home video distribution by IDT Entertainment’s Anchor Bay and Manga Entertainment subsidiaries.
“We are pleased to be doing business with IDT Entertainment. The company’s management is proving to have a firm grasp of the entertainment industry and a bold vision for its future, which is quite extraordinary for an emerging company,” said John W. Miller, Managing Director and Head of Western Region Corporate Banking, J.P. Morgan Securities, Inc. “In just 18 months, IDT Entertainment has created a meaningful presence in the entertainment industry through artful acquisitions and a well thought out strategy.”
“Our plan is to continue to grow IDT Entertainment’s production, distribution, and licensing businesses,” said Morris Berger, IDT Entertainment’s CEO. “This credit facility allows us to accelerate production, expand our creative partnerships, and add new titles. We are now positioned to play a leading role on the world entertainment stage.”
IDT Entertainment is a vertically integrated entertainment business that develops, produces and distributes proprietary and licensed entertainment content. IDT Entertainment’s subsidiaries include animation studios DPS Film Roman, Mainframe Entertainment, and DKP Studios; distribution companies Anchor Bay Entertainment, Manga Entertainment and IDT Entertainment Sales (IDTeS), and production company New Arc Entertainment.
Anchor Bay Entertainment (ABE) is one of the top independent suppliers in the home entertainment arena, with a library of over 3,500 titles. Anchor Bay distributes such high profile television properties as Roseanne, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Xena: Warrior Princess, Hercules, Highlander, Three’s Company, and much of the revered Stephen J. Cannell library, including The Commish, 21 Jump Street and The Greatest American Hero, as well as such classic children’s properties as Thomas & Friends and the beloved Mister Rogers. Since its inception in 1989, ABE has become the venue of choice for some of the world’s greatest filmmakers, including award-winning directors Werner Herzog, Peter Jackson, Wim Wenders, and Sam Raimi. Since its inception, the company has created, developed and released six national #1 fitness best-sellers.
New Arc Entertainment is IDT Entertainment’s film production company specializing in live action and animated feature films and television series programming in the supernatural/thriller/action genre for a variety of platforms. Most recently, New Arc announced that it has teamed with Industry Entertainment and Nice Guy Productions to produce Masters of Horror – an anthology series highlighting 13 leading directors of the genre including John Carpenter (Halloween), Joe Dante (The Howling), Mick Garris (The Stand), Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator), Tobe Hooper (Poltergeist), and John Landis (An American Werewolf in London), among others. Other New Arc original productions include The Fallen Ones, starring Casper Van Dien; All Souls Day: Dia De Los Muertos, starring Laura Elena Harring and Danny Trejo, and Demon Hunter and It Waits, both to be directed by Stephen J. Cannell. New Arc is producing animation projects El Superbeasto by Rob Zombie, Todd McFarlane’s Spawn, and Stan Lee Presents, a series of six feature films.
Manga Entertainment Inc. specializes in the production, marketing and distribution of Japanese anime for theatrical, television, Internet, DVD and home video release worldwide. The company’s revered anime catalog includes such renowned titles as Ghost in the Shell, Ninja Scroll, Blood: the Last Vampire, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Street Fighter Alpha, Perfect Blue, X, Macross Plus, Dead Leaves and Read or Die.
The foregoing summary of the Credit Agreement is not complete and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the Credit Agreement, a copy of which is filed as Exhibit 10.1 to the report on Form 8-K filed by IDT Corporation on April 28, 2005.
Important Note: In this press release, all statements that are not purely about historical facts, including, but not limited to, those with the words “believe,” “anticipate,” “expect,” “plan,” “intend,” “estimate, “target” and similar expressions, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. While these forward-looking statements represent IDT’s current judgment of what may happen in the future, actual results may differ materially from the results expressed or implied by these statements due to numerous important factors, including, but not limited to, those described in IDT’s most recent report on SEC Form 10-K (under the heading “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations”), which may be revised or supplemented in subsequent reports on SEC Forms 10-Q and 8-K and other filings IDT may make with the SEC.
