France's Banijay Group Buys Endemol Shine to Create European Production Giant
Publication date: 28 Oct 2019 Author: Tim Westcott Director, Research and Analysis, Programming France's Banijay Group buys Endemol Shine to create European production giant Brought to you by Informa Tech France's Banijay Group buys Endemol Shine to 1 create European production giant France-based production company Banijay Group has reached agreement to acquire Endemol Shine Group from Walt Disney Company and US hedge fund Apollo Global Management. The price for the deal was not disclosed but is widely reported to be $2.2 billion. A statement from the group said the deal will be financed through a capital increase of Banijay Group and debt. On closure, subject to regulatory clearances and employee consultations. Post-closing, the combined group will be majority owned (67.1%) by LDH, the holding company controlled by Stephane Courbit's LOV Group, and Vivendi (32.9%), which invested in Banijay in 2014. The merged group said it will own almost 200 production companies in 23 territories and the rights for close to 100,000 hours of content, adding that total pro-forma revenue of the combined group is expected to be €3 billion ($3.3 billion) this year. Endemol Shine Group is jointly owned by Disney, which acquired its 50% stake as part of its acquisition of 21st Century Fox last year, and funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management. Endemol Shine has 120 production labels and owns 66,000 hours of scripted and non- scripted programming and over 4,300 registered formats. Our analysis Endemol Shine Group has been up for sale since last year, and Banijay Group appears to be have been the only potential buyer to have made an offer, despite reported interest from All3Media, RTL Group-owned Fremantle and others.
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