KOSDAQ-listed games companyYedangOnline Corp has acquired a 54.6% share in Korean production anddistribution house ShowEast.

YedangOnline has bought120,000 of ShowEast shares for a total of $9.5m. It stated the move was made as"the first step towards creating an entertainment portal business comprisinggames, music, films and TV dramas" in collaboration with its affiliate YedangEntertainment, which specialises in music.

Headed by CEO Kim Dong-joo,ShowEast established itself as a player in 2003 when it financed anddistributed Park Chan-wook's Cannes Grand Prix winner Old Boy. ShowEast is currently a top five distributor in Korea withrecent titles including Bae Yong-joon starrer April Snow, which was pre-sold to Japan for $7.5m and reaped inover $20m in that territory.

The company also co-producedChen Kaige's epic fantasy The Promisestarring Jang Dong-gun.

ShowEast has been runningits own sales outfit since 2004 and is at the Cannes market with titles such aslocal top 10 hit Oh, My God, horror flickTo Sir, With Love and popularmanga-based The Cook (working title).