The Becker Group, which owns Australia's Dendy brand, hasacquired the Moonlight Projects outdoor cinema and cinema advertising group.

The cashand share deal is worth $6.3m (A$8.3m). Moonlight is best known for its summerscreenings of contemporary and classic films in parklands located close to thecentre of Australia's capital cities.

Thebusiness will continue to be run by its executive directors, founder JamesTutton and Mark McCoach, who will be looking for opportunities for expansion inother markets.

The moveflows on from the recent sale of Becker's shareholding in the distributor MagnaPacific and is subject to the approval of shareholders.

Becker'sexisting exhibition interests include Dendy Cinemas. It also distributesspecialist films through Dendy and mainstream films through the Beckerdistribution brand, is an active film and television producer, and has anoutside broadcast division.