Mumbai: Reliance MediaWorks, part of billionaire Anil Ambani’s group, tied up with unlisted VenSat to expand its visual effects, graphics and animation capabilities to the southern markets, sending its shares up as much as 6%.

The film and entertainment services provider plans to set up a studio in Chennai to cater to the growing demand from the media and entertainment industry, it said in a statement.

Financial details of the agreement were not immediately available.

As a part of the pact, Venkatesh Roddam, founder of VenSat would be joining the Reliance MediaWorks management team as the chief executive officer (CEO) of its entire film and media services division, the company said.

Over the past 3 years, Reliance Mediaworks has substantially scaled up digital post production facilities for feature films, broadcast shows and television commercials, it said.

The media firm, which operates in three business segments - cinema, film and media services and expects its film and media services businesses to be a dominant contributor to its revenues going forward and expects it to rise to 60% in FY13 from the current 40%.

At 11.47 am, shares of the firm, which the market values at $75 million, were up 5.59% at Rs 88.8 in a firm Mumbai market. Shares of the company have fallen 62% since the start of 2011 compared to a 21% fall in the main benchmark index.