Alexandra Lebret, the former managing director of the European Producers Club, has officially launched the Together Fund in partnership with Paris-based investment firm Axio Capital.
The Together Fund has so far raised €57.8m to invest in around 12-15 European independent film and television production companies. It aims to raise €100m in total.
The fund has secured a cornerstone €25m of financing from the EU’s European Investment Fund (EIF)’s MediaInvest equity investment programme, with the balance coming from other financiers, banks, family offices and individuals.
MediaInvest, which has a remit to spur private and institutional investment in the film and TV sector, has previously backed the Paris-based Logical Content Ventures fund and Helskinki-based IPR.VC fund.
Lebret has teamed with Axio Capital’s Antoine Bodet to run the Together Fund. It plans to take minority stakes in European independent scripted companies, providing finance to help them scale up and grow. The average investment is expected to be around €4m per company.
Lebret stepped down earlier this year from the influential European Producers Club, which represents 190 independent film and TV drama producers from across Europe, after more two decades in the role.
She tells Screen about the new fund and its plans:
Why did you leave the EPC to launch the Together Fund?
There were multiple factors. The EPC was growing and in good shape, so I felt comfortable that it has a great future. I also felt that I could continue to serve independent producers in a different way. The production market is changing – the industry is atomised and there is need for concentration into bigger companies and independent groups, and I can help with that.
What is the plan for the Together Fund?
We are looking to take minority shares in independent scripted film and TV companies, providing venture capital to help them grow. We want to be the independent solution for independent companies. Producers are entrepreneurs, and Axio Capital’s business model is all about backing entrepreneurs. I will bring my advice and contacts to the Fund. Antoine will also provide financial advice and connections. This is a ten-year fund, so our presence in each of the companies will be limited to three to seven years. We will look to invest in around 12-15 companies.
What kind of companies are you looking to invest in?
The producers need to have a vision of where they are going. That’s one of the main questions we ask at the beginning: “Where do you want to go?” We are not investing in companies just for them to keep on producing the same thing; they need to have an objective that we can share and understand.
But you’re not investing in any of the existing major groups?
No, we’re not investing in groups like Banijay or ITV Studios. We are investing in independent production companies, both big and small.
Are you more interested in backing film or TV companies?
We like companies that make more than one type of production, or that are distributors or sales agents as well. As an investor we want to decrease the risk, so having two sources of revenues is always better. But we are looking at a company that is just producing feature films.
What can your investment bring to production companies?
We need to find new ways of financing films and TV dramas. Investment from broadcasters and distributors is shrinking. Producers are finding pre-financing hard, even though there are still revenues to be made from film and TV. That’s where the financing from the fund can help.
The equity we provide will help companies secure better terms for bank loans to gap finance productions or to fund development. The big companies are all using these financing tools, but they are not at the disposal of independent producers, either because they are too small, they don’t know about them or because they don’t have time.
What kind of applications have you had?
We have had around 40 applications. I’m surprised by the number of applications from companies that have alliances in other countries – there is a trend of mini-groups that I didn’t see when I was at the EPC. It’s extremely interesting for us, but also for the industry. We can make a real difference to the market if we can support these kinds of groups. We are in contact with about five mini-groups. But we are also in contact with 35 companies that are not part of a group. I’m also surprised that we have had very big companies applying. I was expecting to have very small companies apply only.
For production companies, what is attractive about being invested by the Together Fund, rather than a group like Mediawan or a Fremantle?
They will not lose control. We are going to take minority shares. Groups like ITV Studios, Fremantle or Mediawan usually take a majority stake. We will be associated, of course, with the main decisions made by the companies. But we see it more as a partnership rather than a control.
So, you would look to take a minority share and exit after three to seven years when they sell to the big groups?
Yes, hopefully the value of the company will have increased and we will sell our shares, to the benefit of the producer and us. It could be to another fund, to the management or to a group.
What is your hope for the fund?
I think it will strengthen the European market. We need to do this more than ever. Just look at Trump’s recent announcements. It’s economically and politically important to strengthen the European cultural landscape and its companies. As the vice president of the EIB [European Investment Bank] Ambroise Fayolle said at the launch of the Together Fund in Paris on Friday: “We know that soft power is key, and we have a question to solve about the sovereignty of our European cultural assets.”
How did you come to launch the Together Fund with Antoine Bodet?
The EPC was one of the organisations that was part of the working group that [former EU commissioner] Thierry Breton gathered to think about the industry’s recovery plan measures from Covid in March 2020. A key concern was the capitalisation of European production companies. We all know that they are very atomised and under-capitalised. You cannot grow if you don’t have capital.
One of the measures was to create the €400m MediaInvest programme. [MediaInvest is investing in a series of individual funds focused on audiovisual content production and distribution, hoping to spur more institutional and private investors to commit money to the sector.] I started to meet funds to understand how they are working and how MediaInvest will work to benefit producers. Antoine was one of them.
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