UK-based production, financing and sales outfit Anton has secured over €100m in financing through a group of institutional investors, led by funds and accounts managed by US investment company BlackRock.
The financing allows Anton to expand its feature film and television series development and production slate.
The feature film development team plans to produce 10 features per year, focusing on European English-language projects aimed at a global audience, specifically genre titles, including action, thriller, elevated horror and sci-fi.
Greenland 2 starring Gerard Butler and Morena Baccarin, who reprise their roles in this sequel to Greenland: Migration, is in production.
Anton was established in 2011 by Sébastien Raybaud with an $180m slate funding deal with Studiocanal – the first of its kind in Europe. The company is headquartered in London, with offices in Los Angeles and Berlin, and bills itself as “one of the largest independent film and TV studios in Europe”.
As a financier it has backed titles including Paddington, Shaun The Sheep and His Dark Materials. Its sales and production slate includes Claude Barras’ Cannes Premiere animation Savages, Annecy title Memoir Of A Snail, The Bookie & The Bruiser, Fuze starring Aaron Taylor Johnson and Cleaner with Daisy Ridley.
US hedge fund Magnetar, which has been an investor in and funder of Anton since 2015, remains one of the largest shareholders in the company. Anton remains a business controlled by its management.
“We have an amazing development and production team in place focused on creating high quality, premium entertainment. Partnering and working with the very best A- list cast and top-tier filmmakers, our goal is to produce films and series across all commercial genres on a global scale,” said Anton CEO Raybaud. “This exciting investment from BlackRock allows us to greenlight more ambitious projects, and expand these partnerships with exceptional film and TV producers.
“Our investment approach seeks out unique, compelling opportunities outside of core private markets, and we see significant potential in television and film,” added Paul Braude, chief investment officer and head of BlackRock’s Direct Private Opportunities Group.
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