The legendary movie star Sir Roger Moore will chair a new Monaco-based advisory board of a multi-media investment fund that aims to attract Middle East investors for exclusive international movie and television productions.

Monaco-based Lehner Investments’ advisory board will be meeting up with potential investors and partners during a visit to the UAE later this year.

The MultiMediaFund is an absolute return, open-ended investment fund with the objective of investing into development and first class distribution, as well as the acquisition of intellectual property rights in movies, television, music and gaming, said the company in a statement.

'I had always wanted to initiate an entertainment fund - now my ambition has been realised. My two sons, Christian and Geoffrey, along with Lehner Investments, have now created a multi-media fund advised out of Monaco and Los Angeles to do what I had originally wanted to do, so I guess you could say, patience is a virtue,' said Sir Roger.

Making his first mark in the TV western Maverick (replacing James Garner in 1959), Roger moved on to take over from Sean Connery as James Bond in 1972 and eventually starred in seven Bond movies.

The Moore family is well-connected in the entertainment industry in the US and Europe, enabling the MultiMediaFund to invest in the world's most exclusive movie and television productions - all with an impeccable track record.

The fund also intends to finance print and advertising (P&A) for movies in which the MultiMediaFund is investing to ensure maximum exposure and hence optimise the return on investment, said the star.

The MultiMediaFund will primarily be inviting institutional investors and high net-worth individuals especially from the Middle East, to participate in the fund, said a top Lehner Investments official.

'We all see enormous opportunities in the entertainment segment, particularly in applying new technologies such as 3D, as well as making use of digital distribution channels to enhance the value of multimedia content and intellectual property rights,' said Klaus Lovgreen, chief operating officer of Lehner Investments.

The advisory board of the MultiMediaFund will also, through its contacts in the music industry, identify and acquire catalogues of existing popular music producing a consistent royalty income.

The fund intends to co-operate with established royalty collection businesses across Europe and the US in order to realise the value of acquired catalogues.

Joakim Borgsved from Lehner Investments will act as investment adviser to the fund, and provide analytical support as well as entrepreneurial experience in digital media to the advisory board.

A Monaco resident, Borgsved is a successful serial entrepreneur in digital media and technology and a major private stakeholder in Kobalt Music Group, the leading independent music publisher. 

In the gaming segment, the MultiMediaFund will develop opportunities for turning acquired intellectual property rights in movies, for example, into online/offline games as well as mobile applications, directly or via licensing deals with existing game developers.

In addition to already acquired rights, the MultiMediaFund will identify and acquire existing gaming titles with a proven revenue stream along the same lines as those of music and movies, the company said.-TradeArabia News Service