Mediawan Completes the Acquisition of Lagardère Studios

PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Regulatory News:

Mediawan (Paris:MDW), one of the main independent content studios in Europe, announces today the completion of the acquisition of Lagardère Studios, a key player in the creation, production, distribution and management of audiovisual content in Europe. Exclusive negotiations had been announced on June 22, 2020 and a binding agreement was signed with Groupe Lagardère on August 6, 2020. This acquisition has received an Antitrust approval on September 21, 2020.

As the terms of the acquisition agreement allowed, Mediawan has issued 1,615,785 new shares in remuneration for the contribution in kind of Lagardère Studios shares.

The remaining share of the purchase price has been financed predominantly by the use of €30 M undrawn credit facilities of and by a €20 M shareholder loan from Mediawan Alliance (BidCo Breteuil).

Lagardère Studios is one of the key independent players in content production and distribution in Europe, with a presence in France, Spain (Grupo Boomerang), Finland (Aito Media) and the Netherlands (Skyhigh TV), but also in Africa (Keewu in Senegal), and enjoys relationships with broadcasters in each of these countries.

With its 25 production labels, the Group has strong brands in drama, like Atlantique Production’s international coproduction “The Eddy”, available on Netflix and directed by Oscar-winning Damien Chazelle, DEMD Productions’ “Tandem” broadcast on France 3 and “Josephine Ange Gardien” with over 20 years and 100 episodes on TF1, but also documentaries like Imagissime’s 5x52’ mini series ‘Gregory’, available on Netflix. Lagardère Studios also produces many successful non-scripted shows like Maximal Production’s “C Dans L’Air” broadcast on France 5, Réservoir Prod’s “Ca Commence Aujourd’hui” on France 2 or “Recherche Appartement ou Maison” on M6 or Aito Media’s “The Night Patrol” and its 400 episodes aired on Channel Four Finland. The Group gathers a great number of content creation talents and has a recognized expertise in all production models: local productions, international coproductions, format adaptations, controlled-budget industrial films and corporate and digital creations, and its distribution business has a deep catalogue of c. 10,000 hours.

The integration of Lagardère Studios further reinforces Mediawan’s production capacity through strong brands in France and Spain, and increases its geographical presence in Europe with the Netherlands (Skyhigh TV), Finland (Aito Media), but also Africa (Keewu). Lagardère Studios also enhances Mediawan’s production business with unscripted productions, in addition to its historical business of drama, cinema, documentary and animation.

“We are particularly proud today to be able to count on the many talents which form Lagardère Studios, and explore with them the many development opportunities which are offered to us everywhere in Europe, in all genres: drama, documentary and unscripted,” said Pierre-Antoine Capton, Chairman of the Board of Mediawan

Evolution of share capital

Pursuant to a meeting of the Management Board dated October 30, 2020, the share capital was increased to €337,687.46 consisting of 33,768,746 shares with a par value of €0.01 each, following:

- a capital increase incurring the issue of 1,615,785 new shares issued to Groupe Lagardère for the contribution in kind of Lagardère Studios;

- the exercise of 10,000 share warrants, resulting in the issuance of 5,000 Mediawan shares.

About Mediawan - mediawan.com

Created in late 2015 by Pierre-Antoine Capton, Xavier Niel and Matthieu Pigasse, Mediawan soon became one of the main independent European studios producing premium content. Mediawan brings together best-in-class talents in audiovisual creation by operating on the entire value chain: production of drama, documentary and animated original content (Mediawan Originals and Mediawan Animation), distribution of audiovisual content (Mediawan Rights), and publishing of channels and digital services (Mediawan Thematics).