Banijay plots indie powerhouse

Banijay Group’s impending takeover of Endemol Shine Group (ESG) will create an international powerhouse with UK production assets alone generating more than £370m a year.

It emerged this week that Paris-based Banijay, whose turnover is estimated at around €1bn (£860m), is close to buying the Peaky Blinders and Big Brother company after a lengthy pursuit, in a deal potentially worth €2bn (£1.7bn).

Upon closing, it will create the world’s largest independent producer, including 30 UK indies and several hundred staff, according to the Broadcast Indie Survey 2019.

ESG, which has a debt pile understood to be around €1.6bn (£1.4bn), first began hunting a buyer 18 months ago. It owns around 120 companies globally, while Banijay has more than 50.

The merged business’s distribution slate would combine Endemol Shine International’s (ESI) 65,000 hours with Banijay Rights’ 20,000 and put the likes of Big Brother and MasterChef alongside Survivor and Temptation Island.

This continues the consolidation of the international distribution market, following Sky Vision’s recent merger with NBC Universal Global Distribution, Disney’s acquisition of the Fox and Nat Geo catalogues, and ITV Studios bringing its sales operations under one umbrella.

Banijay has made no secret of its desire to grow and came close to buying ESG last year, when chief executive Marco Bassetti told Broadcast that the company was “more of a consolidator than a consolidated entity”.

Buying the Disney and Apollo-owned ESG would satisfy Banijay’s strategy of expanding in the UK and in scripted. ESG owns scripted indies such as Kudos, Tiger Aspect and House of Tomorrow, while Banijay is better known for unscripted assets, including Tipping Point producer RDF Media and Location, Location, Location firm IWC Media.

Internationally, Banijay and ESG have significant production businesses across Europe, with overlap in key territories such as France, Germany, Spain and the Nordics.

Both businesses are also established in the US, where Endemol Shine North America produces CBS’s Big Brother and Banijay owns Keeping Up With The Kardashians firm Bunim/Murray.

There are strong links between the two groups. Banijay founder Stéphane Courbit was president of Endemol France in the early 2000s and reportedly attempted to take over the wider Endemol business in 2006, before creating Banijay co-parent Lov Group a year later.

Bassetti, meanwhile, established Endemol Italy in 1997. After exiting in 2004, he returned in 2007 and was named president of Endemol Group two years later. He joined Banijay as chief executive in 2013.

It is not yet clear how the two companies’ top executive teams will be combined. Sophie Turner Laing has been chief executive of ESG since Endemol merged with Shine Group in December 2014, while ESI chief exec Cathy Payne is stepping down in early 2020.

Tim Mutimer currently leads distribution for Banijay, while Peter Langenberg, another former Endemol exec, leads Banijay UK as group chief operating officer. Richard Johnston runs ESG UK. Banijay and ESG declined to comment.