Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on January 30, 2025
By Amy-Jo Crowley, Hadeel Al Sayegh and Paul Sandle
LONDON/DUBAI (Reuters) - British broadcaster ITV has been holding early-stage talks with Abu Dhabi-backed group RedBird IMI about a possible merger of their respective production businesses, two people with knowledge of the situation said.
The discussions have centered around merging ITV's Studios business with All3Media, the producer of hit TV show "The Traitors," that RedBird IMI acquired for 1.15 billion pounds($1.43 billion) last year, the people said.
One option is for ITV to separate out its broadcast business and merge Studios with All3Media, with both RedBird IMI and ITV holding stakes in the studios entity, one of the people said.
The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity because the matter is private, said the talks were at an early stage and may not lead to any transaction.
Spokespeople for ITV and RedBird IMI declined to comment.
A merger between All3Media and ITV Studios would create one of the largest production groups in Europe, with revenue of around 3.176 billion pounds ($3.95 billion) based on 2023 numbers published by the companies, alongside rivals Banijay, BBC Studios and Fremantle.
ITV shares rose 3.4% after the Reuters report of the talks.
The talks come after RedBird IMI said it would sell Britain's Telegraph newspaper group, which it effectively owns but cannot control in the long term because Britain said it would stop foreign governments owning newspapers.
ITV explored a deal in 2023 to buy All3Media from its then joint owners Liberty Global and Warner Bros Discovery to combine it with its Studios unit, Reuters reported at the time.
RedBird IMI, led by former CNN executive Jeff Zucker and backed by Emirati royal Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, went on to buy All3Media last year.
The talks with ITV failed when the two sides could not agree terms, with ITV saying it weighed M&A opportunities against "strict financial criteria".
Liberty Global's 50% stake in All3Media and around 10% holding in ITV were a factor in previous deal talks.
ITV's chief executive Carolyn McCall said in July 2023 that ITV looked at All3Media with great interest because it was "bang on strategy," but it was not the right deal.
McCall has been considering options for the group amid a languishing share price, a third person familiar with the matter said.
Other private equity funds had held conversations with ITV about its Studios unit in recent months, the person and a fourth person with knowledge of the situation said.
Shares in ITV have roughly halved to 71 pence since January 2018, when McCall took the helm, giving it a market value of 2.7 billion pounds as of Wednesday's close, according to LSEG data.
ITV, the maker of "Love Island" and "The Voice", has an ad-funded broadcast and streaming business as well as Studios.
Worries over advertising, the decline in linear TV audiences and the investment requirements in streaming have prompted analysts to suggest splitting the company would boost its value.
Production companies have also come under pressure from reductions in budgets from ad-funded broadcasters and a drop in commissions from some streamers.
Studio groups including RTL's Freemantle have explored options to cut costs and pool resources, Reuters has reported.
($1 = 0.8048 pounds)
(Reporting by Amy-Jo Crowley in London, Hadeel Al-Sayegh in Dubai and Paul Sandle in London. Editing by Anousha Sakoui and Jane Merriman)
