108 Media acquires Piccadilly Pictures
December 6, 2022
London/Singapore-based international content investment studio 108 Media has reached an agreement to acquire a majority stake of London-based film and television financing firm Piccadilly Pictures.In addition to bolstering its ambitions in Europe, 108 Media will also begin to expand the remit of their latest acquisition into emerging markets by launching Piccadilly Pictures APAC, a new content investment fund headquartered in Singapore for the pan-Asian region focusing on credit-based opportunities across the creative IP infrastructure.Leading the management and operational charge of both Piccadilly entities will continue to be co-founders Christopher Figg and Robert Whitehouse, having collectively produced and financed over 80 projects in their 50-year-plus careers.Piccadilly Pictures and its associated businesses have raised and arranged approximately £150 million in the last decades through financing the entire capital structure – from production funding, lending against tax credits, cash-flowing contracted pre-sales, and gap financing unsold rights. Notable films in its recent financing slate include the upcoming Helen Mirren movie Gokda, Storm Boy with Geoffrey Rush, Mandy with Nicolas Cage, shark creature-feature Great White, and Close starring Noomi RapaceFigg and Whitehouse will work directly with 108 Media CEO, London-based Abhi Rastogi and 108 Media President, Justin Deimen in Singapore on growing Piccadilly’s brand and footprint into Asia and other markets utilising Piccadilly’s impressive and extensive track record, plus its experienced team of executive producers, legal professionals, and financial analysts.Rastogi commented: “Piccadilly and its team will supercharge 108 Media’s ambitions to be the leading cross-continental film and television finance firm capturing multiple revenue streams and the latent lending opportunities across the world, with a focus on aligning the marketplace’s price points with investible and value-driven screen products, all bolstered by real-time sales data and reliable in-house assessment.”On the expansion into Asia, Deimen added: “What Piccadilly Pictures APAC represents is a new way forward of how the media ecosystem in the Asian regions can and will evolve. As bigger and more complex content co-productions from this part of the world becomes further in demand internationally, so does its need for visible and sophisticated media financing solutions. We look forward to growing our team with exceptional partners like Chris and Robert who are pioneers in this field, bringing terrific returns and performances.”As part of 108 Media’s global group of companies, Piccadilly Pictures will be extending its funding criteria into larger feature projects across more jurisdictions, and premium television across scripted and factual with a significantly refreshed deployment size. It will inherit a deep bench of financeable deal-flows from 108 Media’s current slate as well as a large pipeline of third-party projects that will be managed and evaluated by Piccadilly.Whitehouse and Figg, in a joint statement, said: “Given the expanding demand for entertainment in the international marketplace this is an exciting opportunity to work with talent from all over the world, including within the impressive Asian production sector. The ability to work closely with 108 Media and the additional funding available to Piccadilly will greatly increase our capacity and effectiveness.”