Left Bank Pictures is considering putting itself on the market for as much as £40m after appointing broker About Corporate Finance.

The Mad Dogs producer has always been open to approaches from potential suitors and has entertained informal overtures from companies such as ITV.

But Left Bank is now understood to weighing up its future more seriously as it looks to its next stage of growth, building on a content slate that includes Sky 1 and HBO’s Strike Back and Wallander for BBC1.

About Corporate Finance would handle any potential transaction and Left Bank could seek around eight times its forecast earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation for 2012.

Broadcast understands that interested parties include NBC Universal, which already has a significant interest in the UK production sector in Carnival Films and Monkey Kingdom.  

However, Left Bank chief executive Andy Harries could be wary about selling to an international suitor after telling Broadcast last year that he was “sad” to see the UK indie sector “dominated by US companies”.

BBC Worldwide owns nearly 25% of Left Bank and has a five-year distribution deal with the company, which is up for renewal over the summer.

Left Bank’s turnover hit £29m last year, up more than £7m on 2010, according to the Broadcast Indie Survey.

This article was first published in Broadcast

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