Blue Ant’s reverse takeover of Boat Rocker wins regulatory, shareholder approval

Blue Ant Media’s reverse takeover (RTO) of fellow Canadian studio Boat Rocker has received all relevant regulatory and shareholder approvals and is now set to officially close in July.

Michael MacMillan

The companies said the transaction has been approved by the Competition Bureau, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission and the Toronto Stock Exchange, in addition to shareholders for both outfits.

“With all substantive regulatory and shareholder approvals in hand, the closing of the transactions is anticipated to occur in July 2025,” said the companies last week.

It was not expected that the deal would face any pushback. However, with all approvals now obtained, both companies can begin to focus on what the future will look like beyond the transaction.

As previously announced, several different deals will take place alongside the RTO, which will see Blue Ant gain a public listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

The RTO itself will see Blue Ant acquiring three companies from Boat Rocker: unscripted producers Insight Productions and Proper Television as well as animation studio Jam Filled Entertainment.

At the same time, Boat Rocker heads Ivan Schneeberg, David Fortier and John Young are executing a management buyout of the Boat Rocker Studios arm via their new privately owned company, IDJCo.

In addition, Boat Rocker will sell its minority stake in US management firm The Initial Group to Canadian investment firm Fairfax Financial Holdings.

Fairfax, which is led by Indian-Canadian billionaire Prem Watsa, is a significant shareholder in Blue Ant and Boat Rocker and has agreed to backstop various aspects of the deal.

When the transaction closes, Blue Ant plans to make an equity raise, its first since 2016. In addition, the company said its balance sheet will be strengthened by between C$54m (US$39m) and C$89m in cash obtained through the RTO and Fairfax’s support.

With the equity raise and cash from the RTO, Blue Ant plans to pursue several significant M&A moves.

In March, in its investor presentation connected with the deal, Blue Ant said it sees a “pipeline of opportunities at attractive valuations as over-leveraged/sub-scale competitors are challenged by market conditions.”

CEO and co-founder Michael MacMillan subsequently told C21 in March that these potential deals may not exist in five years, and that going to the public markets in 2025 will turbocharge the business in a way that simply wouldn’t be possible by remaining private.

“We see all sorts of opportunities to not only grow our existing business but to grow through other mergers and acquisitions – and we didn’t want to wait four or five years to grab these, so it seemed like a smart move when we were approached with this opportunity,” he said.