Metan, CMR Capital Set up Incentives Loan Fund

Larry Namer, Martin Pompadur and their Metan Global Entertainment Group have joined with CMR Capital Group to launch a fund that will lend against tax credits and industry incentives. The MGEG Film Fund 1 will target projects in the range between $500,000 and $20 million.

CMR is a Pasadena-based investment and asset management firm. The new fund will see MGEG as managing partner. The fund’s legal affairs are represented by Barnes & Thornburg LLP.

Namer, who co-founded E! and is a veteran player in China, told Variety that the pool has an initial lifespan of five years and that funds available are in the eight-figure dollars range. Pompadur is chairman of MGEG, and former chairman of News Corporation Europe and longtime ABC executive.

Tax credits, rebates and other incentives are offered by many countries and states around the world. But they tend to pay only after a prolonged process of receipts and auditing have taken place, not during filming when a production is spending rapidly. In order to bring forward the availability of cash, some banks and specialized funds offer to lend to a production according to the anticipated incentive.

In an emailed message Namer said that the MGEG Film Fund 1 will potentially lend against incentives from any country, but there will be a likely ealry concentration on North America. “(We would provide funding against incentives from ) all U.S. states that offer them (that changes each few years), Canada, then country by country based on that country’s track record in honoring commitments,” said Namer.

“There are many similarities conceptually between film and real estate finance and we’re pleased to align with Metan,” F. Scott Shea, managing director, CMR.

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