Fremantle buys 12 NENT prodcos

Nordic Entertainment Group (NENT Group) has agreed the sale of 12 NENT Studios production labels to Fremantle.

Jennifer Mullin

The agreement covers 12 labels in four Nordic countries that operate across non-scripted, scripted and factual businesses.

The companies involved are: Strong Productions (Denmark); Grillifilms, Moskito Television and Production House (Finland); Monster, Novemberfilm, One Big Happy Family, Playroom, Rakett and Strix TV (Norway); and Baluba and Strix Television (Sweden).

Content created by some of the labels includes critically acclaimed, award-winning titles and formats that travel the world such as The Farm which has aired in 50 territories and still sets records in Scandinavia with consistently high ratings.

The move follows last month’s sale of NENT Studios UK’s distribution business to All3Media. NENT Group is reorganising its business to focus purely on providing scripted content for its Viaplay streaming service which it is aiming to roll out through 15 countries by the end of 2023.

Fremantle already produces in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland as Fremantle and through Miso Films, producers of The Investigation, The Rain and Those Who Kill, and through Blu who deliver a cross-genre slate including X Factor and Farmer Seeking Love.

Gabriel Catrina, NENT Group exec VP and chief financial officer, said: “We are confident that Fremantle’s global reach will create many opportunities for these fine businesses. This agreement concludes the divestments of all the Studios assets that we had planned for. Our remaining Studios assets will now focus primarily on delivering scripted content exclusively for Viaplay, leading to Studios eventually being removed as a separate disclosure of revenue in our reporting.”

Jennifer Mullin, CEO of Fremantle, added: “This is an exciting opportunity both to grow our presence in the Nordics and embrace a wealth of exceptional new talent into the Fremantle family. Nordic IP is hugely successful internationally, and with our ability to amplify distribution on a global level, I am confident we will be able to take the great content produced by these labels to an even wider audience.”

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, and is expected to close in Q3 or Q4 this year. Financial terms were not disclosed. NENT was advised by Thomas Dey at ACF.