Vuelta’s SquareOne takes over rival German producer/distributor Telepool
Vuelta Group-owned German producer and distributor SquareOne Entertainment has acquired rival German firm Telepool and its subsidiaries from Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s US production shingle Westbrook.
Al Munteanu
Jerome Levy, chairman of Dublin-based media firm Vuelta Group, and Al Munteanu, CEO of Vuelta Group Germany and Munich-based distributor SquareOne, announced the acquisition today.
Munteanu will spearhead the newly combined entity under the SquareOne banner with Michael Heyd serving as chief financial officer and chief operating officer. Telepool CEO Yoko Higuchi-Zitzmann is leaving the business.
Westbrook acquired all of Telepool, including the 50% stake acquired by The Smith Family Circle in 2018 and the 50% previously owned by Swiss venture capital firm Elysian Invest, and took full control of the licensing and distribution business and its subsidiaries in 2022.
The newly combined SquareOne entity will boast a library of more than 1,200 titles, such as Drive, The Intouchables, Olympus Has Fallen, The Hitman’s Bodyguard, Imitation Game, Lone Survivor, Book Club, Transporter 3, King Richard, Maurice the Tomcat and the recently released One Life.
“For over 60 years, Telepool has been one of the leading global content houses and we are proud of the work we did with the company,” said Westbrook CEO Kosaku Yada.
“We are grateful to Yoko Higuchi-Zitzmann for her leadership over the past two years. Her respect from the creative community has been instrumental in Telepool’s success.”
The new and expanded company will be active across distribution and production. Munteanu said: “The combined entity enables SquareOne to offer German-speaking audiences a strong and varied slate of theatrical releases across multiple genres, from ‘smarthouse,’ comedies and actioners to high-end family entertainment – The Last Breath, Lords of War, Hellboy, Broker Homefront 2 and Bambi being the first out of the gate.”
Jerome Levy
Over the past year, SquareOne has focused on expanding its production activity under the SquareOne Productions banner with teams in Munich and London.
Vuelta Group’s sales arm Playtime said it intends to collaborate with Telepool’s international sales company Global Screen, which distributes feature films and TV series. Its credits include animation The Amazing Maurice and Luis & the Aliens, dramas The Collini Case and The Conference, as well as School of Magical Animals.
Current highlights include Second World War drama Stella – A Life and canine adventure Lassie – A New Adventure.
Nicolas Brigaud Robert, head of Playtime, said: “I am excited to see the unique positioning of Global Screen work hand in hand with the know-how of the Playtime sales group to cover a larger spectrum of projects in acquisitions and increase our collective impact on the market.”
Outside Germany, the Vuelta Group is now present in Scandinavia with Scanbox, in France via Playtime and Pan, and in Italy through its producer Indiana Productions.
Levy said: “This latest Vuelta Group acquisition is in line with our vision and strategy to create an integrated European studio, with the capacity to produce and distribute across multiple territories.”
Munteanu added: “The integration of Telepool will increase our presence in Germany as a major player across all aspects of distribution and production.”
