It was announced today that an MBI team led by Steve Morrison together with Bridgepoint have reached agreement to purchase Chrysalis TV for £45 million in cash.

The acquisition of the business represents a determination by Steve Morrison, Jules Burns and David Liddiment to build a leading presence in the growth area of independent production. The MBI Team have individually and collectively a strong track record in leading creative enterprises, an unparalleled experience of broadcasting and an ability to understand the needs of broadcasters.

Chrysalis TV is a highly respected, successful and profitable operation and will make an excellent platform upon which the team intends to build and take advantage of the exciting opportunities presented by this growing sector.

Producing programmes such as ‘Midsomer Murders’, ‘Richard and Judy’ and ‘Formula One’, Chrysalis TV represents a well known high volume profitable business which has good growth opportunities in Drama, Entertainment, sport and Factual.

Chrysalis TV’s reported turnover for FY ending 31 August 2002 was £87.8m, with EBITDA of £5.2m and operating profits of £3.8m. In the first half of 2003, the business generated an operating profit of £2.8m on turnover of £41.2m doubling the profit of the first half of the prior year (£1.4m).

The MBI Group will pay a cash consideration of £45m for Chrysalis TV. The purchaser will acquire with the businesses the benefit of net tangible assets of £2m which will be retained within the business after disposal. Chrysalis plc will retain profits earned by Chrysalis TV prior to completion and will retain some of the cash balances currently held within the business. The purchase of Chrysalis TV is conditional inter-alia upon Chrysalis plc securing shareholder approval for the transaction.

Bridgepoint are providing the equity capital and Royal Bank of Scotland are providing the debt to fund the purchase. LongAcre Partners advised the purchaser in the transaction.

Steve Morrison commenting on the transaction said,

“Our team believes that Chrysalis TV has a tremendous array of talent and programmes. Jules, David and I are truly excited by the potential of this business and the scale of the opportunity in front of us.”

Michael Black of Bridgepoint also commenting, said,

“We believe that Steve and his team represent one of the strongest combinations in the sector. They bring a wealth of experience to the table and we are delighted to be backing them in the purchase of the Chrysalis TV business.”