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Mediawan swoops on EuropaCorp TV arm

French investment firm Mediawan has acquired the television arm of Luc Besson’s EuropaCorp and is poised to buy stakes in two other domestic producers.

Mediawan will acquire the non-US TV assets of the No Limit producer and is in talks to buy fellow French producers Makever and Mon Voisin Productions.

The deals emerged after EuropaCorp sold its French TV division to EuropaCorp Television’s former MD Thomas Anargyros for €11m (US$13m) last year as it attempted to rebound following a series of film flops and the departure of its CEO, Marc Shmuger.

That division has since been renamed Storia Television, with Mediawan taking an 80% stake in the business and Anargyros holding the remainder. As per the original deal, EuropaCorp’s US-based TV assets are not included.

Makever, launched in 2002 by Stephane Drouet and Matthieu Viala, was behind shows including Canal+ comedy Kaboul Kitchen, while Mon Voisin was founded in 2008 by Dominique Besnehard and Michel Feller and produced France 2’s Call My Agent.

Mediawan said the three companies’ annual revenue together exceeded €50m last year. The investment group was set up by media entrepreneurs Pierre-Antoine Capton, Xavier Niel and Matthieu Pigasse last year as an acquisitions company targeting the media content and entertainment industries in Europe.

The company, which raised €250m for its launch on the Paris Euronext stock market, acquired factual prodco CC&C and picked up the 35% stake it didn’t already own in TV network RLT9 last year.

“These strategic investments in EuropaCorp TV, Makever and Mon Voisin Productions would be another milestone in the implementation of Mediawan’s strategy,” said Pierre-Antoine Capton, Mediawan’s chairman.

“With an extensive offering of premium content combining fiction, animated content and documentaries, Mediawan is in the best position possible to meet the substantial market demand.”

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