German media company Leonine Holding will take over Munich-based production company SEO Entertainment effective January 1, 2021.
Financial details of the transaction have not been disclosed. SEO Entertainment will remain an independent company and become part of the Leonine Production division within Leonine Studios.
The current sole shareholder and Managing Director Gillad Osterer will remain Managing Director of SEO Entertainment and in this function will report directly to Leonine Studios CEO Fred Kogel.
SEO Entertainment focuses on light entertainment, documentaries and comedy with current productions including Feuer und Flamme for German public broadcaster WDR and Your life is a joke for Netflix.
“With SEO Entertainment, we are pleased to welcome another successful, creative and innovative production company to Leonine Studios,” said Kogel. “The company has an excellent team and Gillad Osterer is an outstanding producer who has inspired us time and time again with his creative ideas. We look forward to unlocking additional growth potential in working together.”
Osterer added: “I am particularly pleased that SEO is ‘docking on’ to what I believe is currently the most attractive European media company. Not only from a content point of view does this result in an exciting growth perspective, the overall concept of Leonine Studios has absolutely convinced me on a human level as well. I am very much looking forward to working together in a great team.”
The Leonine Production segment also comprises the production brands i&u TV, Odeon Entertainment, Odeon Fiction, W&B Television and Wiedemann & Berg Film. The group covers the entire spectrum of film, TV and OTT production in the premium segment as well as the production of formats for social media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook or Instagram for scripted and non-scripted content in various genres.
