Mediawan to Acquire Lagardère Studios

As part of its European expansion, Mediawan has announced the formation of a new holding company, based in Paris, as well as the acquisition of Lagardère Studios.

Mediawan has submitted a binding offer and entered into exclusive negotiations for the acquisition of Lagardère Studios for a total consideration of up to €100 million, and bought a majority stake in Good Mood, an independent producer based in Spain.

Mediawan’s founders, Pierre-Antoine Capton, Xavier Niel and Matthieu Pigasse, have also announced the creation of a new holding company, Mediawan Alliance, with the backing of financing partners MACSF and KKR. Mediawan Alliance will launch a tender offer on all Mediawan securities not held by the founders and MACSF, at a price of €12 per share and €0.65 per warrant. Mediawan Alliance will own a minority stake in Leonine, which would be contributed by KKR. Mediawan Alliance has also entered into exclusive negotiations for the acquisition of Troisième Oeil’s audiovisual activities held by Capton. The company will be led by Mediawan’s chairman, Capton, as CEO and Fred Kogel, Leonine’s CEO, as deputy CEO.

The creation of the holding company will facilitate co-pros between its production and distribution groups in France and Germany.

“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. “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 Fred Kogel and his teams.”

“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,” said Kogel. “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 co-productions between Mediawan and Leonine, as both companies are studio gems and amongst the most attractive and fastest-growing players in Europe.”