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18.06.04
ALL3MEDIA announces the acquisition of Lion TV
ALL3MEDIA announced today that the Group has successfully completed the acquisition of Lion TV Group.
Lion TV is one of Britain's fastest growing TV production companies specialising in history, general factual and entertainment programmes.
In 2003 Lion TV Group recorded turnover of over £22.0 million.
The amount of the consideration paid to Lion's vendors will not be disclosed. However, the basis of consideration paid to Lion's vendors will
include an initial payment and subsequent additional payments may be earned over a five-year period, subject to certain profit criteria being achieved.
Founded in 1997 Lion has made over 1,200 hours of broadcast television for 31 different broadcasters. Focusing on factual and entertainment,
Lion produces programmes for all the UK terrestrial broadcasters.
With 220 production staff located in offices in London, Glasgow, New York, Los Angeles and Miami, Lion has a wider client base in the USA than any other
UK independent. In 2003, over 30 % of Lion's programme turnover was made for the North American market.
ALL3MEDIA, formerly Chrysalis TV Group is a leading independent TV production group of companies with an annual income of £93 million prior to the
acquisition, rising to £115 million after the acquisition. ALL3MEDIA is led by an MBI team of Steve Morrison, Jules Burns and David Liddiment,
funded by the European private equity firm Bridgepoint and the Royal Bank of Scotland.
Commenting on the acquisition, Steve Morrison, Chief Executive of ALL3MEDIA said:
"We believe ALL3MEDIA's model of managing its programme businesses through their original owners has helped to attract Lion Television, one of the most
successful UK Independent producers to ALL3MEDIA."
"We are looking forward to working with Jeremy Mills, Richard Bradley, Nick Catliff, Shahana Meer and their very enterprising teams in the UK and America."
"This transaction complements the organic growth of our existing production companies, places ALL3MEDIA in the forefront of UK Independent production companies,
and positions us very well in the US market."
Commenting on the transaction, Nick Catliff of Lion said:
"We have turned down many merger and acquisition offers in recent years but we felt that ALL3MEDIA offered the perfect fit. They will help us build on our
existing success and strengths and will help us to take the fullest possible advantage of the opportunities available under the new terms of trade."
"This is a great move for Lion not only as a business but as a creative organisation. While we will retain our strong identity, working alongside people with
the track record and experience of Jules Burns and Steve Morrison will expand our business horizons and having a creative and strategic figure like David
Liddiment working with us is a very exciting prospect".
- ends -
For further information please contact:
Steve Morrison tel: 020 7907 0177
ALL3MEDIA
Richard Constant tel: 020 7554 1400
Gavin Anderson & Company
Notes to Editors
Information on ALL3MEDIA
ALL3MEDIA, formerly Chrysalis TV Group is a leading independent TV production group of companies which was acquired for £45m in August 2003 by an MBI
team led by Steve Morrison, Jules Burns and David Liddiment and funded by European private equity firm Bridgepoint.
ALL3MEDIA's sports and factual entertainment production company, Chrysalis Television, recently announced its new name, North One Television and is
responsible for the production of Formula 1 and World Rally on ITV.
ALL3MEDIA's other TV companies include Bentley, makers of MIdsomer Murders, Cactus, makers of Richard and Judy, ARG, makers of Channel 4's hit
comedy Black Books, IdtV in Holland and South Pacific Pictures, New Zealand's largest TV production company. IdtV Films and SPP were both nominated for
Oscars with Twin Sisters and Whale Rider respectively, (Keisha Castle-Hughes was the youngest person ever nominated for Best Leading Actress).
Sir Robert Phillis, currently Chief Executive of Guardian Media Group plc, was recently appointed on 4 March 2004 as non-executive Chairman of ALL3MEDIA.
Information on Lion TV Group
Lion TV Group was founded in 1997 by Richard Bradley, Nick Catliff and Jeremy Mills who all previously held positions at the BBC. Shortly afterwards
Shahana Meer joined the team from Wall to Wall. These senior executives are all committed to remaining with and leading the business in the future.
Lion employs 220 core and production staff at its London, Glasgow, New York and Los Angeles offices.
Lion TV Group originally focused on producing documentary, general factual and entertainment programmes. Now Lion TV covers a range of genres and produces
programmes for all the UK terrestial channels as well as UK and US cable and satellite broadcasters.
Early commissions included the BBC series Children's Hospital, Hotel, Paddington Green, Timewatch and Castaway 2000.
Since then, Lion produced a great many successful programmes including Under the Hammer (BBC1), Hitler's Victories (Five/PBS), History Detectives (PBS),
DIY Disaster (ITV), Passport to the Sun (BBC1), The Readers and Writers Roadshow (BBC4), Boston Law (BBC1/WGBH/BBC WW), Medici: Godfather of the Renaissance
(Channel 4/ PBS), The Tower (Channel 4) and Bad Behaviour (Channel 4).
Some more recent commissions include Trading Places (BBC2), Days that Shook the World (BBC2/4, BBC WW, History Channel), Time Commanders (BBC 2), The Spartans
(C4, PBS), Martin Luther (DDE, PBS, BBC2), Lawrrence of Arabia (DDE, PBS, BBC2) Castle (C4), To Catch a Thief (BBC1) and Britain's Finest (C5), Miami Animal Cops
(Animal Planet), "Guns Germs and Steel" (National Geographic/PBS.
The US market represents a very significant opportunity for Lion TV Group. Since inception Lion targeted US broadcasters and developed programmes solely for the
US market working with Fox Television, CBS and PBS as well as Cable Networks Bravo, E!, Discovery, Discovery Health, The Learning Channel, Animal Planet, A&E,
Court TV and MSNBC. Notable successes in the US included award winning programmes such as Taxi Dreams, The Maze and Hitler's Victories.
In recent years Lion TV Group has increasingly focussed on entertainment and factual entertainment. Recent commissions include To Catch a Thief (BBC1), Homes Under
The Hammer (BBC1), House Trapped (Channel 4), "You Askin, I'm Dancin (C4), Battle of The Books (BBC4), Million Dollar Babes (ITV2), "Whose Wedding Is It Anyway" Style.
Lion also has a thriving website and new Media Division responsible for major programme support websites such as Kumbh Mela and The Haj (C4), History Detectives and
History detectives Kids (PBS) and also the ground breaking health website DIPEX.
Information on Lion's Senior Management Team
Jeremy Mills
Jeremy created such ground breaking popular documentary series as Paddington Green and Hotel before moving on to create Castaway 200 a huge hit for BBC1, winner of
many awards and the first "reality show" in the modern sense.
Jeremy oversees much of Lion's high profile factual entertainment output in London and works with LA networks most notably Fox.
Richard Bradley
Richard has been responsible for making Lion one of the most admired and influential producers of blue chip documentaries and history programming in the world.
Richard has been responsible for major international hits such as "Egypt's Golden Empire" and "Martin Luther" while also creating Lion's unique joint venture
partnership with Phoenix one of China's largest broadcasters and production companies.
Shahana Meer
Shahana is one of the most respected figures in production management in the UK. She has personally handled huge projects such as "Castaway" while managing Lion's
growth from a start up to the major company it is today. Shahana is responsible for Lion's great strengths in production management, business affairs and financial
control.
Nick Catliff
As well as being responsible for a variety of popular and high end factual programming for UK broadcasters such as "Boston Law" and "The Maze" Nick has overseen the
rapid growth of Lion's New York production base with returning factual series such as "History Detectives" and "Miami Animal Cops" as well as developing and selling
Lion factual entertainment formats to a variety of USA broadcasters.
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