Mediawan to acquire Lagardere Studios for €100m
June 22, 2020
French media group Mediawan has announced a raft of deals, including the acquisition of Lagardere Studios, as part of a broader expansion laid out by its founders, who will also establish a new holding company for the business.
Mediawan said its planned takeover valued Lagardere Studios at around €100 million, as parent company Lagardere restructures and sells off assets it considers as non-core to its business.
Lagardere said the sale would enable it to focus on developing its Lagardere Publishing and Lagardère Travel Retail businesses.
Mediawan was set up in late 2015 by French businessmen Pierre-Antoine Capton, founder of French media firm 3e Oeil Productions; Xavier Niel, founder of telecoms group Iliad; and financier Matthieu Pigasse, with a view to challenging the likes of Netflix with premium audiovisual content. The trio said they will set up a new company called Mediawan Alliance to develop the existing Mediawan business further.
In parallel, Mediawan Alliance has entered into exclusive negotiations for the acquisition of a majority stake in Spanish independent production company Good Mood, made a binding offer for French production group Troisième Oeil’s audiovisual activities and will also hold a minority stake in KKR-backed German studio Leonine.
“We created Mediawan four years ago with the intention to create a European audiovisual champion to respond to the demand for premium content, and these new operations are unprecedented steps to continue our growth in new European geographies, new formats and with new partners,” said Capton, chairman of the board of Mediawan and CEO of the newly established holding company Mediawan Alliance.
“The combination with key players like Lagardère Studios and Groupe Troisième Oeil and the cooperation projects with Leonine confirm Mediawan’s strategy. I am particularly proud to lead this group and be able to count on the talent of [Leonine CEO] Fred Kogel and his teams,” he added.
Kogel commented: “The vision of creating a pan-European film studio that covers the entire value chain of the content business in the European key territories has inspired us since Leonine was founded a year ago. I am more than delighted to assume the position of deputy CEO at Mediawan Alliance and to explore together with Pierre-Antoine the promising opportunities ahead for possible future cooperations and coproductions.”