108 Media to Acquire Majority Stake in Piccadilly Pictures, Set Up APAC Division (EXCLUSIVE)
London and Singapore-based studio 108 Media is set to acquire a majority stake in U.K. film and TV financing firm Piccadilly Pictures, Variety can reveal.
Through its latest acquisition, 108 Media will also launch Piccadilly Pictures APAC. Serving the Asia Pacific region, the Singapore-headquartered content investment fund will focus on credit-based opportunities across the creative IP infrastructure.
Leading the management and operational charge of both Piccadilly entities will be co-founders and long-time producers and financiers Christopher Figg and Robert Whitehouse.
Piccadilly Pictures and its associated businesses have raised and arranged approximately £150 million ($183 million) in the last decades through financing the entire chain, from production funding, lending against tax credits, cash-flowing contracted pre-sales, and gap financing unsold rights. Notable films in its recent financing slate include the upcoming Helen Mirren-starrer “Golda”; the Geoffrey Rush-led “Storm Boy”; psychedelic horror “Mandy,” with Nicolas Cage; shark creature-feature “Great White”; and “Close,” with Noomi Rapace.
Under the deal, Piccadilly will work directly with 108 Media CEO Abhi Rastogi, who is based in London, and Singapore-based 108 Media president Justin Deimen to grow Piccadilly’s brand and footprint into Asia and other markets.
Rastogi said of the deal: “Piccadilly and its team will supercharge 108 Media’s ambitions to be the leading cross-continental film and television finance firm capturing multiple revenue streams and the latent lending opportunities across the world, with a focus on aligning the marketplace’s price points with investible and value-driven screen products, all bolstered by real-time sales data and reliable in-house assessment.”
On the expansion into Asia, Deimen added: “What Piccadilly Pictures APAC represents is a new way forward of how the media ecosystem in the Asian regions can and will evolve. As bigger and more complex content co-productions from this part of the world become further in demand internationally, so does the need for visible and sophisticated media financing solutions. We look forward to growing our team with exceptional partners like Chris and Robert who are pioneers in this field, bringing terrific returns and performances.”
As part of 108 Media’s global group of companies, Piccadilly Pictures will be extending its funding criteria into larger feature projects, as well as more ambitious premium TV across scripted and factual. Piccadilly will inherit a number of deals from 108 Media’s current slate as well as a large pipeline of third-party projects that it will manage and evaluate.
Piccadilly’s Whitehouse and Figg said: “Given the expanding demand for entertainment in the international marketplace, this is an exciting opportunity to work with talent from all over the world, including within the impressive Asian production sector. The ability to work closely with 108 Media and the additional funding available to Piccadilly will greatly increase our capacity and effectiveness.”
The deal is the latest in a string of acquisitions for 108 Media.
Earlier this year, the company bought the formerly AIM-listed distributor DCD Rights and its subsidiaries; invested in Singapore-based animation IP specialists Robot Playground Media; and secured a majority stake in Asian production outfit Revolution Media.
Elsewhere, 108 Media recently struck a co-financing deal with BritBox International on “Inspector Singh,” which goes into production in January 2023. The company also announced a showrunner partnership with horror maestro Neil Marshall on “Nightshade,” his first TV series since Netflix’s “Lost in Space” reboot.
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