All3Media, the UK’s largest production group, could be going up for sale for an estimated £1bn, nearly double the price paid by Liberty Media and Warner Bros Discovery seven years ago.
According to The Telegraph, the joint owners are seeking a buyer for All3, which owns top drama and film labels such as Empire Of Light and 1917 producer Neal Street Productions and The Tourist producer Two Brothers.
The paper reports that plans are at an “early stage”, but says JP Morgan bankers have been drafted in to run an auction.
ITV and Banijay have both been suggested as probable bidders for the company, which has businesses in the US and Europe.
Liberty and Warner Bros’ “landscape-changing” £550m acquisition in 2014 was largely down to what Liberty Global’s chief executive Mike Fries called “the increased competition for great content and non-linear rights”.
This time last year, Fries said he had no plans to sell its 50% stake.
Since Jane Turton took over as chief of the super-indie in 2015, the company has more than doubled the number of indies it houses to 50. Its labels include The Traitors indie Studio Lambert and Wild Isles indie Silverback Films.
All3Media did not comment on what it called “speculation”.
Screen’s sister title Broadcast first reported the story.
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