Wild Bunch partners with U.S. fund
Company launches $150 million venture
CEC, an affiliate of Citi, is providing most of the new equity, with existing shareholder Iris Capital and Wild Bunch management putting up the remainder, the company said Tuesday. Under its new configuration, Wild Bunch remains around 66% European owned.
CEC and Wild Bunch are also forming an acquisition and co-production joint venture, with equity and debt totaling Euros 110 million ($150 million). Wild Bunch created a similar joint venture last year with Virtual Films.
Wild Bunch prexy Vincent Grimond said the company will be looking to invest in quality U.S. indie fare budgeted above Euros 15 million ($20.5 million), such as Steven Soderberg's "Che," which started shooting in Spain in July, with Benicio del Toro in the title role.
"We are not going to try to get the next mainstream comedy from New Line," Grimond said.
Wild Bunch also has some big budget French fare in the works, including the English-language comic book adaptation "Largo Winch" and "Mr Nobody," by Belgian helmer Jaco Van Dormael.
The new fund will start to operate later this month.
Beyond the films Wild Bunch will be able to board, the equity deal with CEC is also designed to further Wild Bunch expansion plans.
Company's former Studio Canal management team, led by Grimond, has set its sights on turning the indie company into a fully fledged European studio with distribution in all the major territories.
While international sales still rep around 50% of the company's Euros 50 million ($68.2 million) annual revenues, that has come down from 100% when the company was set up five years ago, and today French theatrical and video are also a major source of revenue.
Wild Bunch ranks third among French distributors so far this year, behind EuropaCorp and TFM. Claude Chabrol's "La Fille coupee en deux," currently on French screens, is headed for an admissions total of around 800,000, equivalent to a B.O. gross of $4.75 million.
Wild Bunch also has theatrical distribution in the Benelux countries via indie A Films.
"What attracted me to this company is the quality of the management," enthused Benjamin Waisbren, CEC’s president and CEO. "They've always done what they said they would do and they know how to deal with capital markets in a sophisticated, educated way."
The fund is looking for other investment opportunities in Europe, Waisbren said.
