Ralph Willis Brandt Gully and Kenny Favre three former executives of GE Capital’s entertainment group have founded Entertainment Financial Advisors Partners to provide a wide array of strategic advisory services to companies in select entertainment industries. They say that EFA’s focus is to provide middle-market and emerging entertainment companies with financial advisory services to assist with raising capital merger and acquisition recommendations restructuring alternatives industry research and general business plan development. “We believe that our firm will fill a void in the film industry as we feel there is no other advisory firm with specialized expertise across the entire film chain from production to distribution to exhibition ” says Willis a founder of entertainment finance groups at both GE Capital and Heller Financial. “Having worked for years with film producers studios film service companies theatre circuits and digital cinema companies we have the unique perspective of truly understanding every facet of our clients’ businesses.” While with GE Capital they were instrumental in structuring and closing Cinedigm’s $217 million financing for its conversion of over 3 700 screens. “All of us at Cinedgm have worked with the EFA team for years in proving that our VPF model works and is now the worldwide standard ” says Bud Mayo chairman and CEO of Cinedigm. “We look forward to working with Ralph Kenny and Brandt on creative ways to advance our leadership in digital cinema.” “The EFA team brings significant industry knowledge and insightful judgment that operators greatly value when seeking guidance and financial partners to grow their business ” says Bobby Cobb president of Cobb Theatres.
