Canada’s Sphere Media completes $18m Abacus Media Rights acquisition

Montreal-headquartered production group Sphere Media has completed its C$24.6m (US$18m) acquisition of UK-based distributor and rights management company Abacus Media Rights.

Jonathan Ford

With the completion of the transaction, the UK company, which was formerly owned by Toronto-headquartered Amcomri Entertainment, is being rebranded under the new name Sphere Abacus.

The deal, first announced in June, represents the first major distribution play from Bruno Dubé-led Sphere Media, which has been an active acquirer of production assets over the past decade.

Canadian broadcast group Bell Media, which holds a minority interest https://www.c21media.net/news/bell-media-takes-minority-stake-in-montreal-production-group-sphere-media/ in Sphere Media of less than 30%, was also a backer in the deal to acquire Abacus Media Rights.

Sphere Abacus will now serve as Sphere Media’s distribution arm and work closely with the company’s production companies. The distribution firm will also “continue to invest in, pre-sell and sell scripted and unscripted productions from independent producers around the world to its extensive client base,” said the company.

The Sphere Abacus team will continue to be based in the UK, with managing director Jonathan Ford continuing to lead. He reports directly to CEO Dubé.

“Our two companies are particularly complementary, and we are very much looking forward to working closer with the brilliant producers at Sphere, enabling their programming to have even greater global success,” said Ford.

“The long-standing and robust partnerships we have developed with all our production, broadcast and streaming clients continue to be highly important to us all at Sphere Abacus, and we’re thrilled to have an even stronger base on which to build and grow new global collaborations.”

Dubé added: “This significant development for our company means that our global capabilities have extended further and deeper. Together with Sphere Abacus we have become an exceptionally effective force in the worldwide content market.”