IFTN spoke with Elaine Gill at Anglo Irish Bank about their involvement with the Company Development Initiative (CDI), a development project launched with the Irish Film Board at Cannes in May 2001. Under the initiative, a number of companies have been selected for development funding, which is being provided by Anglo Irish Bank and the Irish Film Board.
This is a unique development, with five companies having received credit approval within Anglo Irish Bank. The five companies are Littlebird, Octagon, Element, Treasure Entertainment and Magma.
Although Anglo Irish Bank are disappointed at how long this process has taken to get to the drawdown stage, all documentation is now in place and all beneficiaries have drawn funds. The Bank puts the delay down to teething problems. Overall, the bank is delighted to be involved with
the scheme, is happy with all the companies on board and very confident about the project.
The original overall budget is EUR3 million, comprising a contribution of EUR1.3m from Anglo Irish Bank and a contribution from the Board of EUR1.7m.
Although a second phase has not been discussed yet with the Board, Anglo Irish Bank is eager to see how successful this first project is before embarking on inviting more companies to participate. The lead-in time should be a lot shorter next time, as all the legal aspects have been sorted out
with the first time beneficiaries.
A key service provided by Anglo Irish Bank is their S481 fundraising for film and television. The bank has a database of over 3,000 customers keen to invest in various projects, including S481 investment. The current legislation means that there is a maximum investment of E31,750 per individual per year. With Anglo Irish Bank, this investment is usually a split between a bank loan and personal equity - the latter is repaid by the tax relief. For Anglo, a big factor is that they have never had a case where loans were not repaid. The reduction in the tax rate together with the restriction on S481 relief (to 80%) does mean however that the level of return is very tight compared with the early days of S481. Naturally 100% relief is ideal as it attracts more investors and produces a greater return for producers.
Projects for 2002 for which Anglo Irish Bank have raised Section 481
finance include:
Bachelor's Walk (Accomplice TV), Actors (Company of Wolves/Four
Provinces), Mystics (MR Productions), Chasing the Dragon (World 2000/Metropolitan for
Disney), The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (World 2000 for Showtime), Oscar
Wilde Trilogy (Terraglyph for Channel 4), Treasure Island (Coco Television
for RTE), Raggy Boy (Subotica), Ros na Run (Tyrone Productions for TG4),
Ella Enchanted (World 2000 for Disney) and Intermission (Company of Wolves/Parallel Films)
Further information about Anglo irish Bank available here.
