Mediawan Completes the Acquisition of Lagardère Studios
02 Novembre 2020 - 8:15AM
Business Wire
Regulatory News:
Mediawan (Paris:MDW), one of the main independent content
studios in Europe, announces today the completion of the
acquisition of Lagardère Studios, a key player in the creation,
production, distribution and management of audiovisual content in
Europe. Exclusive negotiations had been announced on June 22, 2020
and a binding agreement was signed with Groupe Lagardère on August
6, 2020. This acquisition has received an Antitrust approval on
September 21, 2020.
As the terms of the acquisition agreement allowed, Mediawan has
issued 1,615,785 new shares in remuneration for the contribution in
kind of Lagardère Studios shares.
The remaining share of the purchase price has been financed
predominantly by the use of €30 M undrawn credit facilities of and
by a €20 M shareholder loan from Mediawan Alliance (BidCo
Breteuil).
Lagardère Studios is one of the key independent players in
content production and distribution in Europe, with a presence in
France, Spain (Grupo Boomerang), Finland (Aito Media) and the
Netherlands (Skyhigh TV), but also in Africa (Keewu in Senegal),
and enjoys relationships with broadcasters in each of these
countries.
With its 25 production labels, the Group has strong brands in
drama, like Atlantique Production’s international coproduction “The
Eddy”, available on Netflix and directed by Oscar-winning Damien
Chazelle, DEMD Productions’ “Tandem” broadcast on France 3 and
“Josephine Ange Gardien” with over 20 years and 100 episodes on
TF1, but also documentaries like Imagissime’s 5x52’ mini series
‘Gregory’, available on Netflix. Lagardère Studios also produces
many successful non-scripted shows like Maximal Production’s “C
Dans L’Air” broadcast on France 5, Réservoir Prod’s “Ca Commence
Aujourd’hui” on France 2 or “Recherche Appartement ou Maison” on M6
or Aito Media’s “The Night Patrol” and its 400 episodes aired on
Channel Four Finland. The Group gathers a great number of content
creation talents and has a recognized expertise in all production
models: local productions, international coproductions, format
adaptations, controlled-budget industrial films and corporate and
digital creations, and its distribution business has a deep
catalogue of c. 10,000 hours.
The integration of Lagardère Studios further reinforces
Mediawan’s production capacity through strong brands in France and
Spain, and increases its geographical presence in Europe with the
Netherlands (Skyhigh TV), Finland (Aito Media), but also Africa
(Keewu). Lagardère Studios also enhances Mediawan’s production
business with unscripted productions, in addition to its historical
business of drama, cinema, documentary and animation.
“We are particularly proud today to be able to count on the many
talents which form Lagardère Studios, and explore with them the
many development opportunities which are offered to us everywhere
in Europe, in all genres: drama, documentary and unscripted,” said
Pierre-Antoine Capton, Chairman of the Board of Mediawan
Evolution of share capital
Pursuant to a meeting of the Management Board dated October 30,
2020, the share capital was increased to €337,687.46 consisting of
33,768,746 shares with a par value of €0.01 each, following:
- a capital increase incurring the issue of 1,615,785 new shares
issued to Groupe Lagardère for the contribution in kind of
Lagardère Studios;
- the exercise of 10,000 share warrants, resulting in the
issuance of 5,000 Mediawan shares.
About Mediawan - mediawan.com
Created in late 2015 by Pierre-Antoine Capton, Xavier Niel and
Matthieu Pigasse, Mediawan soon became one of the main independent
European studios producing premium content. Mediawan brings
together best-in-class talents in audiovisual creation by operating
on the entire value chain: production of drama, documentary and
animated original content (Mediawan Originals and Mediawan
Animation), distribution of audiovisual content (Mediawan Rights),
and publishing of channels and digital services (Mediawan
Thematics).
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201101005057/en/
Victoire GRUX - +33 6 04 52 16 55 - vgrux@mediawan.eu
Timothée NICOLAS - +33 6 46 16 48 68 -
tnicolas@majorelle-pr.fr