WildBrain acquires Canadian animation studio House of Cool for $11.4m

L-R: Wes Lui, Josh Scherba and Ricardo Curtis

Canadian kids’ entertainment studio WildBrain is set to acquire Toronto-based animation company House of Cool for around  C$15.5m (US$11.4m).

House of Cool, led by Wes Lui and Ricardo Curtis, is a specialist in the pre-production and early-stage development of animated properties.

Under the agreement, WildBrain will acquire full control of House of Cool, with the deal consisting of around US$3.85m in cash and the remainder through the issuance of shares. The deal also includes an earn-out of up to US$4.4m based on the collection of Canadian tax credits earned up until the transaction’s expected close in the fourth quarter.

The deal remains subject to some customary closing conditions, and will be subject to the approval of the Toronto Stock Exchange and a 12-month ‘lock-up’ agreement.

With the deal, Lui and Curtis will join WildBrain’s senior management team and assume the newly created roles of co-general managers of House of Cool. They will report to WildBrain president Josh Scherba, who leads the company’s content and studio business.

House of Cool, which was founded in 2004, will continue to be based in Toronto and operate under a distinct identity, working closely with WildBrain’s Vancouver animation studio. WildBrain said the acquisition would “more than” double its existing pre-production team of around 80 personnel based in Vancouver.

Over the past 19 years, House of Cool has worked on more than 20 theatrical films, which have grossed more than US$6.23bn at the global box office, providing storyboarding, conceptual and visual development, and character, environment and prop design to films including Despicable Me for Illumination, The Angry Birds franchise for Rovio and Sony Pictures Animation, and The Peanuts Movie, Ferdinand and the Ice Age and Rio franchises for 20th Century Fox and Blue Sky Studios.

“This acquisition is an investment in creative excellence,” said Scherba. “House of Cool is recognised as one of the very best pre-production companies in the global animation industry. We’re delighted to welcome Wes, Ricardo and their team on board at WildBrain, a combination of talent that will immediately broaden and deepen our collective creative strengths.

“Their expertise is highly complementary to our existing business, expanding and enhancing our pre-production capabilities, not only for WildBrain’s proprietary content but also for third-party projects.”

Scherba added that the acquisition “establishes a new entry point for IP owners to engage with WildBrain’s 360-degree offering across production, distribution and consumer products licensing.”