2010-12-10 13:27

NEW YORK - China's Bona Film Group Ltd, issued its initial public offerings (IPO) on NASDAQ Thursday, raising approximately $100 million.

Robert Greifeld, chief executive officer (CEO) of NASDAQ, said in the opening bell ceremony that Bona is the first Chinese film company to get listed on NASDAQ, and it has made truly remarkable progress by distributing 139 films, including 29 internationally, since its founding seven years ago.

Dong Yu, the founder and CEO of Bona, said that thanks to the rapid development of China's economy, culture and film industry, Bona has the opportunity to stand at a new starting point in history by entering the NASDAQ market.

"The film industry is an industry full of dreams," Dong told Xinhua News Agency, "Since Bona's founding, we keep focusing on film making, and will keep on investing, filming and releasing more good films."

The world's output of films is about 5,000 annually. Among them, 500 are produced by the Chinese film industry, according to Dong. "The Chinese film industry is in a rapid developing period, we are confident that we will rake in over 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) in box office revenue in China this year."

"The NASDAQ stock market provides us with an international platform." Dong said. "We look forward to enhancing cooperation with international film makers in the future, as well as promoting the convergence of the Chinese and US film market."

Bona Film Group Limited is the largest privately owned film distributor in China, with an integrated business model encompassing film distribution, production, exhibition and talent representation.

It offered 11.7 million American depositary shares (ADSs) on Thursday's IPO, each two ADSs representing one ordinary share of the company. Bona's IPO price is $8.50 per ADS, and its share closed at $6.59 on its debut day on NASDAQ, down $1.92 compared to its issuing price.