Pinewood Shepperton is making its first move into Asia with the development of a film and TV studio in Malaysia.

Building work will start on the studio, which will be located in the Iskandar region, in southern Malaysia, towards the end of next year, with the studio expected to be completed by 2012. 

The new facility will have nearly 60,000 sq ft of TV studios, 3 of them at 12,000 sq ft, plus 100,000 sq ft of film stages, ranging from 12,000 sq ft to 30,000 sq ft. It wil also house offices, workshops and post-production facilities.

The project is being developed by the studio group together with the investment holding arm of the Government of Malaysia, Khazanah Nasional Berhad.

Pinewood is increasingly looking to increase its international footprint and earlier this year acquired Toronto’s FilmPort studio, which has now been rebranded under the Pinewood name.

Ivan Dunleavy, chief xxecutive of Pinewood Shepperton, said:  “This represents important progress in the company’s strategy to build a meaningful new revenue stream, exploiting our expertise and brand internationally. Following our deal for Pinewood Toronto and now Pinewood Malaysia, we are exploring further opportunities in this new and growing market.”