Sony Pictures Television (SPT) has confirmed its acquisition of one of the 海角视频’s leading independent television production companies in Cardiff-based Bad Wolf.
SPT, which is taking a majority equity stake in the business and its Cardiff Bay studios, said it is committed to working with the existing management team in a long-term partnership.
The deal provides an exit for minority shareholders in the business, set up by former BBC executives Julie Gardner and Jane Tranter in 2015, in Access Entertainment, a division of Access Industries owned by industrialist Len Blavatnik and media giants Sky and HBO.
The deal sees the two founders becoming significant minority shareholders, alongside other Bad Wolf management, having previously had a combined majority interest. The deal also sees SPT taking Bad Wolf’s 30% stake in Bad Wolf America. The value of the deal has not been disclosed but with speculation it is between £50m to £60m.
Bad Wolf’s high profile productions filmed in Wales include His Dark Materials and a Discovery of Witches.
The acquisition is part of SPT’s strategy of expanding its production portfolio and increasing its volume of high-quality IP in recent years. This saw it entering children’s programming by acquiring Silvergate Media in 2019 and last year broadening its capability in sports and live entertainment production with its investment in Whisper Films and moving further into premium scripted with the acquisition of Sex Education producer, Eleven.
The deal reunites Ms Tranter with Wayne Garvie, president of international production for SPT, having previously worked together setting up BBC Worldwide Productions in Los Angeles.
Mr Tranter added: “The last five years since launching Bad Wolf have been a hugely rewarding experience as, with the support of Access Entertainment, Sky, and HBO, we built a production infrastructure and a creative community based out of Wolf Studios Wales that could compete with any TV production in the world.
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"Sony Pictures Television share our vision for the company going forward, and their immediate understanding and belief in the ethos of Bad Wolf make them the perfect partners for our future. With a forward-looking, global corporation like Sony investing in the future of Bad Wolf and Wales it gives us the ability to reach even greater heights in the years to come.”
While she said she had “done well” from the deal, she stressed that the important assessment was Bad Wolf’s economic impact on its creative industries supply chain in Wales and the wider economy. A recent independent analysis of its economic impact between 2015-20, undertaken by international economic consulting firm Nordicity and chartered accountants Saffrey Champness, shows from a total £259m production spend just under half, or £121.8m, remained in Wales for payments to labour, suppliers and intellectual property holders.
In terms of its wider impact it has identified a further £85.5m in additional GVA for the Welsh economy, as well a £7.1m GVA impact from the expenditure in Wales from its corporate operational activities. Its total direct, indirect and induced GVA impact over the five-year period was £114m.
It has supported 2,243 full-time equivalent roles over the period, made up of 1,087 direct, 873 indirect and 283 induced.
Ms Tranter said following the acquisition it would be very much business as usual. She added: “Nothing changes for any of us in our day-to-day involvement at all. We just say goodbye to our friends and partners in Access Entertainment who have really supported us on this journey and really helped us to grow and build. We don’t really say goodbye to our partners HBO and Sky. Yes, they will no longer be shareholders, but we will still continue to make programming for them in a close working relationship."
She said the sale process attracted strong interest, but that a flotation of the business was never a consideration. She added: “We were really lucky to have a small handful of people interested and I think it speaks to the strength of the 海角视频’s independent production sector that distribution companies and studios can see the value of the way that we work in the 海角视频.”
On working again with Mr Garvie she said: “I worked with him when I went to Los Angeles and we set up and ran BBC Worldwide Productions and Adjacent Productions. He was my boss, so it is nice that we are reuniting with Wayne.”
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Mr Garvie will now join a new look Bad Wolf board, which will also include Ms Tranter and Ms Gardner and his COO Richard Parsons.”
Ms Tranter said that Sony were a long-term investor. She added: “It is a long-term investment as drama is a long-term investment, as it can take on average three years to get a drama from the ideas stage to screen. We chose very carefully and this process has been going on for sometime.
"We have been very happy in the relationships we had in Bad Wolf and we wanted to be very certain that the people we entered into with for the next phase of Bad Wolf’s life was the right partner and investor.
"We are absolutely confident that Sony are those people. They really shared our vision for Bad Wolf in terms of what we do for audiences globally on screen and in terms of what we do for Wales. I don’t think the figures (sale price) is the point, but am I happy and satisfied for what Bad Wolf has done for the people who worked for it, the exiting shareholders, the production and creative community in Wales, the local economy and the value we have given back to the Welsh Government.
" However, it is only the end of the first round and we have a way to go yet. Sony are very excited and the thing that distinguishes Bad Wolf is that we aren’t based in the same place as everybody else. We are based in Wales and we do it a bit differently and they are excited about all that which is lovely.”
Mr Garvie said: “In the blink of an eye, Bad Wolf has established itself as one of the world’s most admired drama producers.
" The quality of work, breadth of imagination and boundless ambition make it one of the great emerging production houses of our time. Jane and her team have built a tremendous business and established Wales as the home of some of the most fantastic tales of the age and now we aim to help them build still further. We are honoured that they have chosen us as their partner for the next stage of their exhilarating adventure.”
Bad Wolf America (BWA) was set up as a separate US based sister company in 2019. Based in Los Angeles and run by Ms Gardner, it provides content for the US and global TV markets.
Bad Wolf said is looking at additional studio space in Wales, where alongside its existing Wolf Studio Wales it recently took extra production space nearby in the Splott area of Cardiff.
Mr Tranter said: “We are definitely interested in filming in other parts of Wales other than just Cardiff and I have always wanted to go further west and north too, but it would be led by the productions. We love filming in Wales and we are committed to continuing to do so and we will expand as and when we need to.”
The Welsh Government provided Bad Wolf with £9m in funding to set up in Wales, with two tranches of £4.5m in repayable and grant finance – based on a condition of a high production spend in Wales.