The Quebec government's investment arm confirmed Wednesday that it will buy a $100-million stake in Alliance Films Inc., Canada's largest independent film distributor.

The Société générale de financement (SGF) said it plans the move as a way of solidifying Montreal's role as a major film centre.

The SGF will take 51 per cent of the voting shares and a 38.5 per cent stake in Alliance Films.

The head office will move from Toronto to Montreal and senior management will be transferred to Montreal.

"We're delighted with the impact that this deal will have on Quebec's entire film and distribution industry," SGF president Pierre Shedleur said in a statement.

"In addition to greater visibility for Montreal, the partnership will generate substantial economic spinoffs. It will also contribute to the transfer of well-paid jobs that will enhance the city's economy," he added.

Alliance Films has motion picture distribution operations in the U.K. and Spain and holds the Canadian distribution rights for films by independent studios such as New Line Cinema, Miramax Films, Focus Features and The Weinstein Company.

SGF bought its stake from Toronto's Edgestone Capital Partners, which took shares in Alliance last year to help U.S.-based Goldman Sachs Group Inc. meet foreign ownership requirements when it bought 51 per cent of Alliance Films in a deal with CanWest.

SGF now owns Alliance Films' huge library of Canadian movies, including one of Canada's largest collections of French-language films.

The deal helps meet Canadian foreign ownership rules that movie distributors operating in Canada must have domestic management and owners.

The investment in Alliance Films is SGF's third major investment in the film industry in the past two years.

In 2007, it invested $140 million in a partnership with Lionsgate, that ensured that more than 15 feature films and television series would be produced in Quebec over the next four years.

The sixth season of The Dead Zone and the feature film Punisher: War Zone came to Montreal as a result of the Lionsgate deal.

In 2006, the government-mandated investment firm partnered with Hollywood production house Dark Castle on a $270-million production slate that involves six films being produced in Quebec.

Among the projects to shoot in Quebec were action film Whiteout, shot in 2007, and The Factory and Orphan, expected to be shot in Montreal this year.

SGF estimates its investments will generate 8,200 full-time equivalent direct and indirect jobs, representing spinoff benefits such as $325 million in wages.

Its deals also are helping to counteract the drop in foreign production in Canada caused by the strong dollar.

The SGF has a mandate to work with private-sector partners to carry out economic development projects, with an eye to making a profit on its investments.