Kew agrees TCB takeover

Canada’s Kew Media Group (KMG) is taking over UK-based distributor TCB Media Rights in the latest in a series of acquisitions.

Paul Heaney

KMG will pay £5.6m (US$7.3m) in cash and £0.7m in Class B shares for the company, which was set up by CEO Paul Heaney in 2012 and focuses on non-scripted television sales.

KMG acquired 10 production companies, including Content Media Corp (CMC), prior to its public launch in March, with the TCB deal marking its first since then.

The company said the TCB deal “significantly increases Kew Media’s ability to broaden its distribution activity in the non-scripted arena and, even more importantly, aligns Kew’s distribution capacity with the content generation of many of its production companies.”

TCB will act independently of CMC, which has since been rebranded as Kew Media’s distribution arm and will continue to sell the group’s slate of programming across genres.

TCB is expected to generate about £11.5m in revenue in 2017 and KMG said it expected to increase the company’s investment in content. The Canadian company, which has been on the acquisitions trail since its launch, said TCB’s vendors “may also receive an earn-out of up to £4m, should TCB meet certain longer-term net revenue targets.”

KMG has also agreed to pay deferred compensation based on TCB’s actual adjusted EBITDA for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2017, which will cap the purchase price at no more than seven times adjusted EBITDA.

KMG CEO Steven Silver said: “The company Paul Heaney has built over the past five years adds decades’ worth of experience and expertise to our operation.

Steven Silver

“TCB will continue to operate as it has been, since we intend to maintain the distributor’s boutique feel and producer-oriented focus, but now with increased resources for greater content development opportunities.”

Heaney added: “As we strategised on how best to elevate TCB, it was quickly apparent that a partnership with Kew Media was the perfect fit. With its established business platform, proven management team and access to capital markets, the foundation for strong growth is firmly in place.”

Blue Ice Group co-founder Silver and Alliance Atlantis alum Peter Sussman launched KMG, having acquired a string of companies including Architect Films, Bristow Global Media, Media Headquarters Film & Television and Our House Media.

The company has offices in New York, Toronto, Los Angeles and London, and listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange late last year.