ITV Acquires ‘Tiny World’ and ‘Hostile Planet’ Producer Plimsoll Productions for $126M

UK ITV has agreed to buy a majority stake of 79.5%. hostile planet Y small world Production company Plimsoll Productions is valued at approximately 3,103.5 million (US$126 million), which is worth 1,131 million US$159.7 million.

The shares were acquired by private equity group LDC, which invested millions of dollars in a minority stake in Plimsol in 2019.

Founded in Bristol in 2013 by Grant Mansfield, former de facto director of ITV, Plimsoll is the world’s largest independent producer of natural history programs focused on premiums. The BAFTA, Emmy, and Oscar-winning firm has produced hundreds of hours of content that has traveled to more than 200 countries.

Enter your credits small world Y a giant world for AppleTV+; hostile planet Y a supernatural planet for Disney; night on earth Y Animal For Netflix; and the next string Year Planet Earth Tencent in China, Fox Nation in the US and ARD Group in Germany for the new parent company ITV.

ITV Studios reports Year Planet Earth, a 6×60 series based on magical and dramatic stories from around the world. In England, it is narrated by Stephen Fry.

Plimsoll is also expanding into a premium unscripted space, with growing documentary and investigative entertainment departments running major networks and platforms including the BBC, ABC, Channel 4, CNN, History and Hulu.

The acquisition is an important step for ITV and its strategy to expand its international content business to further diversify ITV and ITV Studios’ production base and enable ITV to meet the high demand for natural history content and true genres. Despite having strong written and unwritten manufacturing companies around the world, natural history was previously seen as a gap in its portfolio.

Plimsoll’s team includes creative director Martha Holmes; Creative director Tom Hugh-Jones, head of fact-based entertainment Karen Plumb, and former ITV CEO Richard Klein. Prior to Plimsoll, Mansfield was director of US production company Zodiak, managing director of RDF and de facto commissioner of ITV.

Following the transaction, Mansfield will continue to run the business with its senior management and creators and will play a key role in the development of the program. They will be working with Julian Bellamy, Managing Director of ITV Studios, Angela Jane, Director of Unscripted UK, and her team.

Meanwhile, Plimsoll’s distribution group, Magnify Media, will work with ITV Studios. ITV said it will initially focus on maintaining the momentum of the respective operations as their teams get to know each other and assess how well they work together.

Mansfield said: “Significant opportunities in the international premium no-script market make it possible for Plimsoll to join ITV Studios. There is a very specific strategic and cultural fit for Plimsoll that will enable us to achieve the creative and commercial goals we now have in common. We look forward to being part of ITV Studios’ expanding global powers and to officially launch this powerful new partnership today.”

Carolyn McCall, CEO of ITV, added: “Growing ITV Studios through an exciting portfolio of premium programming is an important part of our strategy as we further diversify our business by genre, geography, client base and grow the market. Through Plimsoll Productions as a studio, We can continue to increase the demand for fact-finding and natural history programming, and I’m very pleased to welcome Grant and his team.

The price includes payments of £85.5m to existing shareholders and Plimsol’s net financial debt is expected to be around £17.6m upon completion.

20.5% of Plimsol shares are owned by Mansfield and other members of the Plimsol management team and other investors. There is a call and agreement for ITV to take the remaining 20.5%.

The deal comes days after Deadline announced that it has appointed an equity advisor to invest in the options of Curve Media, another UK growth facts producer.