Lagardère Active has secured a majority stake of 82% in Grupo Boomerang TV (Grupo BTV).
The remaining 18% stake will continue to be held by the founding partners who will take care iof the day to day management of the group.
Created in 1998, Grupo BTV is one of Spain’s leading independent audiovisual production groups (fiction and unscripted) and has launched expansions in several Latin American countries. The company had a turnover of EUR42.4 million in 2014.
For Denis Olivennes, President of Lagardère Active, “the international expansion of Lagardère Entertainment’s branch of Lagardère Active, and France’s leading audiovisual production group ‘is a strategic issue. This acquisition is the fruit of three years of patient searching by Takis Candilis and his teams of alliances with talented companies in Europe that share our vision for the future, especially in the face of large multinational groups and a surge of new players from the web. With Arnaud Lagardère’s full support from day one, we have the drive and means necessary to reach critical mass on the European audiovisual production market; this acquisition is a first step to get us there.”
“From the very beginning of our discussions, we recognized in Boomerang’s management the same passion we have for our jobs as producers of audiovisual content,” says Takis Candilis, President of Lagardère Entertainment. “So it is with particular pleasure that we welcome them into the Lagardère Entertainment fold. With this acquisition, Lagardère Entertainment will become a leading presence in 2 European countries. What’s more, thanks to Boomerang, we’ll establish a presence in Latin America via their subsidiary in Chile and with a growing presence in Colombia, thus reinforcing our expansion strategy in fast-growing countries, as in Africa.”
“We are very proud to be part of Lagardère Entertainment. We are convinced that this agreement will be very positive for the company and expect may good things to come with it,” added Pepe Abril, Pedro Ricote and Juan José Diaz, Founding partners and general managers of Grupo BTV.
“Along with a leading Group we will be able to reach unique opportunities for growth and expansion. Furthermore, we will keep working hard to increase our position as one of the leading audiovisual companies in the Spanish market and to consolidate our strategic expansion in Latin America.”
