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In the latest major M&A deal to hit Europe, Fremantle has acquired Asacha Media Group, the growing owner of Death in Paradise producer Red Planet, Arrow Media and Italy’s Stand By Me.
Asacha was only founded in 2020 but has since acquired eight labels and rapidly expanded its footprint across Europe.
The deal sees Fremantle acquire the group from Asacha’s founding partners, managers and funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management for an undisclosed fee.
Following the acquisition, which is subject to customary closing conditions, Asacha will continue to be run by Co-Founder and Group CEO Gaspard de Chavagnac who will report to Fremantle Europe boss Andrea Scrosati. De Chavagnac will continue to be supported by Marina Williams as Chief Content Officer of Asacha. Advising for Asacha Media Group was Oaktree has been Lazard and Mayer Brown, and for Fremantle has been CMS.
Scrosati said: “Gaspard de Chavagnac, Marina Williams, and Marc-Antoine d’Halluin and the incredible producers and talents that have created Asacha certainly fall into this category, and we are delighted they have chosen to join the Fremantle family. They have built an impressive portfolio of market-leading labels, each of which perfectly complements our existing businesses in each of their markets.”
De Chavagnac added: “Fremantle will bring all its expertise and resources in premium content development and distribution, to accelerate the growth of our fantastic creative labels. I am very excited to pursue this exciting journey.”
Headquartered in Paris, Asacha has since 2020 been building a mini production empire and now owns France’s Kabo Family, Mintee and Srab Films, Italy’s Picomedia and Stand By Me, and UK triple Arrow Media, Red Planet and Wag.
Shows and movies include Death in Paradise, Saint Omer, Don’t Pick up the Phone, Magic of Disney‘s Animal Kingdom and General Men across wide slates in both scripted and unscripted.
Fremantle said its existing indies in the regions in which Asacha operates, such as Talkback, 72 Films and Lux Vide, will be unaffected.
Fremantle had a quiet M&A year in 2023 compared to its mega 2022 splurge of $270M but this signals the outfit’s intent for the coming year as it continues to build towards a €3B ($3.2B) revenue target by 2025.
Earlier this month, it acquired a majority stake in Singapore’s Beach House Pictures and it recently bought the British indie run by former Channel 4 entertainment boss Phil Harris. In 2022, it acquired the likes of Normal People outfit Element Pictures, docs producer 72 Films and Lux Vide.
Asacha’s most recent buy was Magic of Disney’s Animal Kingdom maker Arrow and, before that, Oscar-nominated Les Misérables producer SRAB.
Advising for Asacha Media Group and Oaktree has been Lazard and Mayer Brown, and for Fremantle has been CMS.
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