Endemol Shine explores $4bn sale

Endemol Shine Group (ESG) has hired two banks to explore a potential sale that could see the production and distribution giant valued at up to US$4bn.

Sophie Turner Laing

ESG is owned by 21st Century Fox and Apollo Global Management and was formed in 2014 after a merger between Endemol, Shine and Core Media.

Now the company has hired Deutsche Bank and Liontree to look into a sale, with Fox and Apollo both willing to sell their stakes if a suitable buyer is found, according to CNBC, which broke the news.

Core remained largely separate from ESG as it looked to refinance debt and eventually filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, re-emerging as a producer of content for linear TV and digital platforms.

News of the banks’ appointment comes after several months of speculation over ESG’s future. Fox has reportedly opted not to take full control of the company and instead plans to offload its 50% stake as part of plans to sell a slew of its entertainment assets, which Disney and Comcast are both competing to acquire.

The successful bidder for the Fox assets is expected to take the cash from any sale of ESG, which is estimated to fetch between US$2.5bn and US$4bn.

The business is headed by former BSkyB content MD Sophie Turner Laing and houses some of the world’s biggest TV brands, including Big Brother and MasterChef, as well as dramas such as Black Mirror and Peaky Blinders.

ESG operates in 23 countries and has a catalogue of 4,000 formats across all genres, with a finished tape library of 50,000 hours.

Production companies under its control include UK outfits Fifty Fathoms, Kudos, Dragonfly and Shine TV, US-based Authentic Entertainment, Shine Iberia and Metronome in the Nordics.

It also operates sales arm Endemol Shine International and subsidiaries such as Endemol Shine Latino, Endemol Shine India, Endemol Shine Boomdog in Mexico and Endemol Shine Australia.