MUMBAI: Fortis Bank has committed to funding the first tranche of EUR 50 million for the financing of XDC’s roll-out of digital cinema equipment across Europe, pursuant to its mandate to arrange EUR 100 million financing.

The credit facility will be available for draw down upon fulfillment of certain conditions, including satisfactory documentation.

This financing will be, upon closing expected by mid April, the first major financing deal in the European digital cinema industry and will further enhance XDC’s position as a major player in the European market.

Last year XDC executed Digital Cinema Deployment Agreements (DCDAs) with six Hollywood studios after which the company started the first deployment with European exhibitors and the support of European distributors.

The commitment by Fortis Bank to provide this will now enable XDC to complete the first phase of the VPF (Virtual Print Fee) based roll-out. With the total EUR 100 million XDC will be able to finance more than 2,000 digital screens across different European countries.

In parallel, within this scope, XDC raised in December 2008 an additional EUR 6 million funding of which EUR 3 million from its existing shareholders and EUR 3 million coming from SRIW (Société Régionale d’Investissement de Wallonie).