Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Co. said Thursday one of its units will pay 1.44 billion yen to acquire the entire operations of film producer Daiei Co.
With the payment, Kadokawa-Daiei Pictures Inc. will take over Daiei's operations, including production and distribution of films and videos, and management of a visual studio, according to the parent company listed on the second section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Kadokawa-Daiei Pictures and Daiei, a unit of Tokuma Shoten Publishing Co., have been negotiating the price for the business transfer since they agreed on the transfer in July.
Daiei, originally called Dai Nippon Eiga, was established in 1942 and produced a number of renowned films, including Akira Kurosawa's "Rashomon."
But it went bankrupt in 1971 and resumed operations in 1974 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Tokuma.
Kadokawa said last summer the acquisition of Daiei would help the group launch a full-fledged visual content business.