Kew Media completes acquisition of Essential Media Group

Kew Media GroupProduction and distribution firm Kew Media Group has completed the previously reported acquisition of the Essential Media Group.

The Essential Media Group is the newly formed international content company from the merger of two leading independent production companies and joint venture partners – Essential Media and Entertainment and Quail Entertainment. Headed by CEO and Executive Producer Chris Hilton and CCO and Executive Producer Greg Quail, EMG combines strong credentials and track records in both scripted and unscripted content.

Steven Silver, Kew Founder and CEO, said, “The addition of Essential to the Kew platform is another step forward in our growth strategy. It expands Kew’s US offering and gives us a first presence in Australia. We anticipate strong revenue synergies coming from Essential’s inclusion for 2019.

Canada, Toronto & USA, Los Angeles, CA

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Keywords Studios acquires Snowed In Studios for $4M (CAD)

keywordsKeywords Studios, the international creative and technical services provider to the global video games industry, has acquired Snowed In Studios Inc. from its current owners, Jean-Sylvain Sormany, Tim Vito and Evan Hahn, for up to $4 million Canadian dollars.

Founded in 2010 and based in Ottawa, Canada, Snowed In offers engineering and co-development services to the video-games industry and has a strong global reputation and well-established relationships with clients such as Ubisoft, Nickelodeon and Bethesda. The company has 29 employees all working in-house in its office in Ottawa led by the current owners, who will remain with Snowed In to drive its growth as part of Keywords.

Andrew Day, CEO of Keywords Studios, said, “The addition of Snowed In to the Group will add strength and scale to our recently established engineering service line and enable Snowed In to take advantage of the group’s very strong presence in the region to support its growth. Having grown the engineering service line from nothing in May 2017, we now employ over 300 software engineers in multiple regions, and I’m delighted that Jean-Sylvain, Tim, Evan and their highly talented and creative team are joining the group as we continue to grow.”

Ireland, Dublin & Canada, Ottawa

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Keywords acquires Blindlight for up to $10M

keywordsKeywords Studios, the international technical services provider to the global video games industry, has acquired Blindlight LLC for a consideration of up to $10m, from the founder, Lev Chapelsky.

Blindlight achieved EBITDA of an average of $1m per annum over the three-year period to 31 December 2017. Under the terms of the acquisition Keywords is paying an initial $3.64m in cash and will issue 64,521 new ordinary shares in Keywords to the seller on the first anniversary of the acquisition which will then be subject to orderly market provisions for a further 12 months. Deferred consideration of up to $4.8m will be payable to the seller in cash depending on the performance of the business in the 12-month periods to the first and second anniversaries of the acquisition.

Founded in 2001 and based in Hollywood, California, Blindlight enjoys a leading position in the provision of Hollywood production services for the video games industry. The company works on behalf of game publishers and developers in procuring specialised talent and managing the entire production processes for the parts of games that benefit from Hollywood production resources. Blindlight’s service disciplines include voiceover production, celebrity acquisition and rights management, game writing, music, sound design and motion capture.

Andrew Day, CEO of Keywords Studios, said, “Keywords and Blindlight have got to know each other well over the past three years and we see good opportunities to leverage both businesses to offer a wider range of world leading services to our clients. We are delighted to welcome Lev and the rest of the team to the Keywords family. Following our recent acquisition of music services companies, Cord Worldwide and Laced, we see excellent opportunities for Blindlight to bring these services to Los Angeles, as well as providing access to further opportunities for our downstream production services of translation and localised voice over.”

Ireland, Dublin & USA, West Hollywood, CA

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Kew Media Group to acquire Essential Quail Media Group

Kew Media GroupKew Media Group Inc. has agreed to acquire Essential Quail Media Group for an initial purchase price of AUD$32.8 million (C$31.9 million based on the current CAD/AUD FX rate of approximately 0.972), comprised of AUD$20.0 million (C$19.4 million) in cash and AUD$12.8 million (C$12.4 million) in Class B shares of KEW valued at C$10.00 per share.

EQ Media combines several entities with aggregate pro forma revenue of over AUD$60 million (C$58 million). The initial purchase price represents a transaction multiple of approximately 3.2x EQ Media’s estimated Adjusted EBITDA of AUD$10.2 million (C$9.9 million) for its fiscal year ending June 30, 2018. The cash portion of the initial purchase price will be funded through cash on hand and KEW’s credit facilities. The vendors may receive additional consideration in the future, conditional upon EQ Media meeting certain financial targets and other tests, which are described below.

EQ Media is a leading independent producer of high quality content for international audiences operating from offices in Los Angeles and Dallas-Fort Worth in the U.S. and Sydney, Australia. EQ Media produces content in a variety of genres, particularly non-scripted television series, for broadcast customers worldwide. Buyers of EQ Media’s programming include DIY, HGTV, Cooking Channel, Animal Planet, ABC Australia, SBS, Foxtel Networks 7, 9 & 10, BBC, National Geographic, PBS, Discovery, Sundance, History Channel, Arte, Netflix and Fox Network. EQ Media also has a longstanding relationship with Scripps Networks (now part of Discovery Inc.), producing more than a dozen full series orders and pilots together.

Steven Silver, KEW Founder & CEO, said, “EQ Media is an exciting addition to the KEW group and the transaction purchase price is an attractive valuation for such a prominent content producer. We expect the acquisition to be immediately accretive to earnings and to free cash flow. In addition, we expect to generate meaningful synergies from the sale of additional EQ Media content through KEW’s global distribution platform.”

Canada, Toronto & USA, Los Angeles, CA

Park Group and Studio Squared merge to form Tilt Creative + Production

Tilt CPFilm and video production firm Park Group and the content specialists from Studio Squared have merged as Tilt Creative + Production, a fully integrated creative and production firm formed to assist national and local clients with creation of traditional and digital video content.

Park GroupUnder the terms of the merger, Park Group founder Dave Trownsell and partner Stacy Murphy will hold a minority share of TiltCP, which is majority owned by former S2 president Ron Carey. Carey will serve as CEO of the combined entity, which employs just under 40 people.Studio Squared

“Combining as one allows us to concept a creative idea, produce that idea, edit that idea and pull it off through the efficiencies we gain by keeping the entire process in-house,” says Carey, who served as a senior vice president at The Martin Agency before joining S2 in 2014. “Content is proliferating across a number of traditional and digital channels and screen sizes, so we have built TiltCP to deliver a high volume of quality, creative content that remains reflective of every client’s brand.”

The Park and S2 merger comes as content demands for global brands are shifting away from traditional channels and moving onto a variety of digital platforms, streaming services, social media sites, and mobile devices. With the newfound demand comes the need for a high volume of creative production that must be met with speed and efficiency while still maintaining quality and ensuring that the client’s brand is accurately presented in the final product.

“As we have for over thirty years, our team will continue offering full-service production for television, film, and traditional advertising and marketing needs,” Trownsell says. “As we looked to the future of our industry, we recognized that we must also evolve and combine creative, strategy, production and post-production under one roof to offer clients a leaner and more responsive model to meet their needs.”

Founded in 1986, Park Group has become one of the largest media production groups in Virginia, offering national clients turnkey production and post-production services. S2 was formed by The Martin Agency in 2008 to produce digital point-of-sale, in-store advertising for major retailers and other businesses. The company was taken private this year by Carey, and several previous S2 employees have joined TiltCP. Clients include Walmart, Audi, Capital One, Ferguson Enterprises, and others.

USA, Richmond, VA

ITV acquires US TV production company Thinkfactory Media

itvITV plc is acquiring a controlling stake in Thinkfactory Media, a US producer of reality, entertainment and drama, including the Emmy award-winning Hatfields & McCoys. Based in Los Angeles, the company was founded by Emmy-nominated Producer, Leslie Greif. Think Factory Media produces programming in most genres for television including:  features, unscripted series, documentaries, mini-series, branded entertainment projects, concerts, music specials and various movies of the week.

thinkfactorymedia

ITV will pay an upfront cash consideration of $30m for a 65% stake in Thinkfactory Media, with a put and call option to buy theremaining 35% of the company. The put and call option could be exercised from between 3 years after the initial deal and at the end of year 5 with the total amount paid linked to the performance of the company over that period.  ITV says that the multiple paid is similar to the range paid on their previous acquisitions.

UK, London & USA, Losa Angeles, CA

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