MTG acquires Nice for $114m

Sweden-based European broadcast giant Modern Times Group (MTG) has won the race to acquire Helsinki-based Nice Entertainment Group and will pay €84.4m (US$114.2m) for a majority stake in the company.

MTG, the Scandinavian parent of Viasat, is thought to have beaten off competition from parties including the UK’s ITV, Core Media in the US, France’s Lagardere and Sony in sealing the deal for Nice – the largest independent group of TV production companies in the Nordic region.

Via its MTG Studios production and distribution business, which earlier this year snapped up the UK’s DRG and Norway’s Novemberfilm, the company will pay €84.4m for an 86.8% stake in Nice.

Nice’s portfolio of production companies include: Monster, One Big Happy Family, Playroom, and Rakett in Norway; Titan, Baluba and Nice Drama in Sweden; Moskito, Production House, and Grillifilms in Finland; and Gong in Denmark.

Firms with the Nice stable are behind formats such as Partaj in Sweden, Lets Dance in Norway, as well as pan-Nordic formats The Grill Masters and Dinner Disasters, which have been aired in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland.

The company, whose CEO Morten Aass will remain as CEO after the acquisition, reported revenue of €121.1m last year and EBITDA of €8.1m. Its management team will retain the remaining 13.2% stake in the business.

Nice will now join the MTG Studios bouquet, which aside from DRG and Novemberfilm also includes Strix in Scandinavia and the Netherlands, Paprika Latino in Eastern Europe, Redaktörerna in Sweden. Its formats have sold to over 80 companies.

“This agreement is another step in Modern Times Group’s strategy to develop MTG Studios into a major international player in content production and distribution,” said president Jørgen Madsen Lindemann. “It will substantially broaden MTG Studios’ content portfolio, as well as accelerate MTG Studios’ digital content creation capabilities. Nice has a wide range of popular formats already on air, as well as an exciting pipeline of new formats.”

“Nice is a fantastic company and a perfect strategic fit with MTG Studios, with well-diversified TV-production and relationships with all of the major Scandinavian broadcasters, as well as a unique approach to integrating TV and event production,” said Patrick Svensk, MTG exec VP of content and chairman of MTG Studios.

Svensk, who told C21 in June that the company’s buying spree hadn’t ended with DRG and Novemberfilm, added it would be “business as usual for Nice, and it will continue as an independent content company serving all clients in the Nordic region.”

The closing of the transaction – anticipated next month – is subject to regulatory approval by the Swedish and Norwegian competition authorities.