Nordic Expansion for Shine Group

LONDON: Elisabeth Murdoch’s Shine Group is buying leading Nordic production group Metronome Film & Television from Schibsted for $87.6 million (SEK 719 million).

The acquisition expands Shine’s footprint to 23 companies operating in nine markets on three continents. It brings all 15 production companies under the Metronome umbrella to the Shine Group in a move that is expected to significantly expand Shine’s production output this year; last year, Shine companies produced more than 1,000 hours of content. Metronome owns production firms in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and the U.S. Its entitles have produced local versions of hit formats such as Deal or No Deal, Big Brother, Idol, Jeopardy! and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. Metronome also recently worked with ShineReveille International to bring The Moment of Truth to Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Metronome’s slate of original formats includes Clash of the Choirs and Luxury Trap. The entire Metronome senior management team, including CEO and president Mats Alders and COO and executive VP Michael Porseryd, will remain at the company. 

"This is a landmark deal for Shine Group," said Elisabeth Murdoch, Shine’s CEO and chairman. "The Metronome companies are peerless in their home territories. It has always been my intention to expand the existing Shine Group companies with the finest creative and entrepreneurial minds from the key markets we have identified, and each Metronome company more than meets this criteria. Their addition gives us an unrivalled presence in a market with a well-earned reputation as the birthplace of so many successful international formats.”

Alders added: "We are very pleased to become part of a group with creativity at its heart that is both expansive and visionary. We share similar creative and company cultures. Shine Group has a large presence in markets where we are not currently active and vice-versa, hence we also complement each other geographically.”

The deal was financed by a combination of private investment and a debt placement program led by J.P. Morgan.