NENT Group Offloads 12 Production Labels

Nordic Entertainment Group (NENT Group) has sold 12 NENT Studios production labels to Fremantle.

The entities are Strong Productions in Denmark; Grillifilms, Moskito Television and Production House in Finland; Monster, Novemberfilm, One Big Happy Family, Playroom, Rakett and Strix TV in Norway; and Baluba and Strix Television in Sweden.

The move is in line with NENT Studios focusing its efforts on scripted content for Viaplay, which is targeting a presence in 15 countries by the end of 2023. Last month, All3Media bought NENT Studios UK’s distribution business—the entity formerly known as DRG—encompassing more than 10,000 hours of content.

Gabriel Catrina, NENT Group’s executive VP and CFO, noted, “We are confident that Fremantle’s global reach will create many opportunities for these fine businesses. This agreement concludes the divestments of all the Studios assets that we had planned for. Our remaining Studios assets will now focus primarily on delivering scripted content exclusively for Viaplay, leading to Studios eventually being removed as a separate disclosure of revenue in our reporting.”

Jennifer Mullin, CEO of Fremantle, added, “This is an exciting opportunity both to grow our presence in the Nordics and embrace a wealth of exceptional new talent into the Fremantle family. Nordic IP is hugely successful internationally, and with our ability to amplify distribution on a global level, I am confident we will be able to take the great content produced by these labels to an even wider audience.”

The transaction is expected to close in the third or fourth quarter, following regulatory approval.