TWI set for acquisition spree

The UK indie sector is bracing itself for the arrival of another superindie, as news emerged that TWI plans to buy both Tiger Aspect Productions and award-winning factual shop Darlow Smithson.

TWI, which was itself taken over in 2004 as part of New York investment firm Forstmann Little’s acquisition of parent company IMG, is reportedly close to buying Darlow Smithson, the producer of Bafta-winning doc Touching the Void and Nat Geo series Seconds From Disaster.

Topping that, TWI is said to be running the rule over comedy, drama and factual prodco Tiger Aspect, with estimations of the price tag approaching £30m for the producer of The Catherine Tate Show, Murphy’s Law and Charlie & Lola.

Both smaller indies are privately held, with the doc shop owned largely by founder and creative director John Smithson, and Tiger owned by the likes of actor Rowan Atkinson, chairman Peter Bennett-Jones, Charles Brand and MD Andrew Zein, among others.

If the deals go ahead they would turn TWI from being a sports and factual player into a fully rounded production behemoth, covering sports, factual, comedy, kids, animation, drama and factual entertainment, and making it larger than the UK’s current biggest indie, All3Media.

Plans to expand via such major acquisitions might even have been what led to the departure of TWI’s CEO Bill Sinrich last month. Sinrich quit blaming “irreconcilable differences” about the future of TWI. Before leaving he told C21: “I don’t think acquisition is always the best way to grow; it’s healthier to do it organically.”

After Forstmann Little’s acquisition of IMG, for a reported US$700m, the TV division has rapidly expanded, beefing up its distribution machinery with third-party programming, forming an LA joint-venture with talent agency Endeavor and opening new production arms overseas.

With TWI’s distribution operation now one of the biggest, thanks to its sports contracts, securing its intellectual property supply lines via acquisitions of the kinds reported today would be a logical step. TWI’s representative was unavailable for comment.