Mediawan, the ‘special purpose acquisition company’ (SPAC) co-founded by Xavier Niel, announced a number of developments as part of its European expansion strategy, including a deal to buy Lagardere Studios for around EUR 100 million. Niel and Mediawan’s two other co-founders have also unveiled plans to take control of the SPAC, backed by two financial partners.
Niel, Pierre-Antoine Capton, and Matthieu Pigasse will launch a tender offer to acquire the company’s entire share capital, with the support of existing shareholder MACSF and new investor KKR. To this end, they have created a new entity, Mediawan Alliance, which will file the tender offer in early July.
Mediawan Alliance will also carry out exclusive negotiations to acquire the audiovisual interests of production group Troisieme Oeil. Additionally, it will hold a minority stake in Germany’s entertainment firm Leonine, brought in by investor KKR.
Alongside these transactions, Mediawan announced two further acquisitions. First, it has entered exclusive negotiations with media conglomerate Lagardere to buy production company Lagardere Studios for around EUR 100 million. Lagardere Studios distributes content across Europe and Africa, and has a presence in France, Spain (Groupe Boomerang), Finlande (Aito Media) and The Netherlanss (Skyhigh TV).
Second, Mediawan has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Spanish independent production company Good Mood, which was created in 2017 by TV producer Daniel Ecija.
