Investment bankers are sometimes accused of seeking an image that is more pin-up than pinstripes. One of their number at least will be among the throng at the Cannes film festival, but she will be quite happy for the paparazzi to keep their lenses trained on the starlets cavorting on the beach. Premila Hoon will be looking for projects to launch Société Générale's new film-finance business.
Fans of independent cinema will be well acquainted with Hoon's previous projects, among them Oscar winners such as The Crying Game and Howard's End, and recent successes Wilde and Shooting Fish. After more than 11 years at UK merchant bank Guinness Mahon, during which time she helped to finance more than 85 films, Hoon has been lured to Société Générale where she is the new head of media in the project and sectoral finance group.
Hoon and her colleagues must carefully assess the huge risks inherent in film production. As she says: "Very risky for a banker means that you don't sleep at night." In return for her sleepless nights the bank will usually take an arrangement fee in addition to a margin over Libor. Occasionally it might participate in a profit share, a choice that paid off handsomely for Guinness Mahon with the film Green Card.