Press Release

Toonz Animation India engages Asia Pacific Direct

APD will build Toonz' presence in Australia and New Zealand, and facilitate unique cost-effective outsourcing and co-production opportunities.

Trivandrum/Sydney, Feb 8, 2006: Toonz Animation India Pvt. Ltd, South Asia's leading animation studio, has appointed Asia Pacific Direct (APD) as their exclusive sales and marketing representative for the Australia and New Zealand region. This is to facilitate Toonz expansion in hitherto unexplored markets and offer Australian producers outsourcing opportunities at an affordable cost, Toonz CEO P. Jayakumar announced here today.

"Toonz is one of the largest animation studios in this part of the world and we are making an aggressive foray into untapped markets. The relationship with APD will help maximise our growing business opportunities," said Mr. Jayakumar.

"Cost effectiveness has become the mantra of this industry. By offering competitive prices without compromising on quality, India, and Toonz in particular, has emerged as the preferred animation hub for producers in America and Europe. Now, in partnership with APD, we bring this cost-advantage to Australia and New Zealand," Mr. Jayakumar added.

"The animation industry in both Australia and New Zealand has been experiencing significant growth over the last several years. The growth has been fuelled by animation work developed for the local market and an increase in special effects work coming down from Hollywood studios. With the increased strength of the Australian dollar, outsourcing becomes an even more attractive proposition for the production houses and large animation studios in this region, who can reduce their production cost by more than half through the outsourcing route. In the end it means more projects can be developed at lower cost, thereby driving further growth in the animation industry. APD's local presence in Australia means clients don't have to travel overseas for contract negotiations and project development, which has been an almost essential part of the animation outsourcing until now," says Ajay Varma, head of Asia Pacific Direct.

About Toonz Animation India
Founded in 1999, Toonz Animation India Pvt. Ltd. is a world-class animation studio delivering content for Film, Television, DVD, Internet and other interactive platforms. Based in Technopark in Trivandrum, Kerala, Toonz is Asia's premier multimedia studio and also the most advanced studio to open in India since the country emerged as a potential player in the international animation industry. The studio is working on a slew of projects with top-notch production houses and entertainment companies across the globe, including industry giants in USA, UK and Japan. Toonz also maintains an extensive library of original content and is currently working on its home productions, 'The Adventures of Hanuman', 'Paddy's Pages', and 'Frogskool', in addition to the slate of projects for overseas clients.

About Asia Pacific Direct:
Asia Pacific Direct is based in Sydney, Australia and specializes in outsourcing services for digital media production. With significant success in delivering web services where APD has been able to deliver more than 50% savings to Australian businesses through outsourcing, APD has expanded into animation outsourcing and recently entered into agreement with Toonz as their exclusive marketing and distribution representative for Australia and New Zealand markets. APD is headed by its founder Ajay Varma. Ajay was born in India where he studied MBA at IIM, and Engineering at IIT. After working in the advertising industry for a few years, Ajay relocated to Australia in 1995, where he has worked with several multinational companies such as Citibank, Allianz, AMP, and as a regional director with American Express in the Asia Pacific region.

For more information, contact:

Ajay Varma, E-mail - ajay.varma@asiapacificdirect.com.au
P.Jayakumar, E-mail - jaya@toonzanimationindia.com