ITV acquires Los-Angeles-based Thinkfactory Media

19th Jun 2013 08:18

FTSE 100-listed TV broadcaster ITV is acquiring a controlling stake in Thinkfactory Media, a US producer of reality, entertainment and drama shows. ITV will pay an upfront cash consideration of $30m for a 65% stake in Thinkfactory Media, with a put and call option to buy the remaining 35% of the company. The put and call option could be exercised from between three years after the initial deal and at the end of year five with the total amount paid linked to the performance of the company over that period. The broadcaster said that the multiple paid was "similar to the range paid on our previous acquisitions".Los-Angeles-based Thinkfactory Media was founded by Leslie Greif and is best known as the driving force behind the TV mini-series Hatfield & McCoys, which dramatized a bitter blood feud between two families on the West Virginia-Kentucky border in the years after the Civil War. The show, which stared Hollywood actor Kevin Costner, made cable television history when it aired with more than 17m people tuning into the premiere and encore telecast.ITV's share price was down 0.07% to 137.60p at 08:25 on Wednesday.MF