Management Buyout for Celador Productions

LONDON, January 4: The
first stage of a management buyout at Celador Productions, led by managing
director Danielle Lux, is now complete.

The management team sharing
ownership of the company alongside Lux are Heather Hampson, director of
production, and Murray Boland, head of factual. Outgoing Celador Productions’
chairman, Paul Smith, is supporting the buyout and will remain a shareholder in
the company until his shareholding is purchased in its entirety by the
management team. Smith will also have an on-going, non-executive role in the
company.

Lux commented: "This
is an amazing opportunity. It's not every day that a fistful of programs,
including You Are What You Eat, and
one of Britain's best production companies are landed in your lap. But that is
what has happened to us. In just a couple of years we've gone from being
employees hired to grow the company to becoming its owners.”

Celador Productions is in
production on a fourth run of You Are What You Eat for Channel 4. Popcorn, a comedy entertainment series, concluded last
week on Sky Movies and Sky One. Perfect Strangers, a new daytime quiz, launches this month on BBC
Two, and BBC One has just ordered an eleventh season of Commercial Breakdown. The buyout follows the sale of Celador
International and the Who Wants to be a Millionaire? brand to 2waytraffic.