Houlihan Lokey Advises Atwater Capital

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that Atwater Capital, LLC (Atwater) and certain of its affiliated funds have contributed shares of LEONINE Holding GmbH (LEONINE) in connection with the formation of Mediawan Alliance (Mediawan) and its related acquisitions of Mediawan S.A., Lagardère Studios, and Good Mood.

Atwater is a leading private equity firm focused exclusively on the media and entertainment sectors. It was founded with the vision of uniting the valuable creative aspects of evaluating investments and growing companies with deep operational and financial expertise under one roof and one team. Going against the status quo of traditionally segregating these critical activities, Atwater seeks to extract the synergies of applying quantitative rigor to creative strategy on behalf of its portfolio companies and stakeholders.

Created in late 2015 by Pierre-Antoine Capton, Xavier Niel, and Matthieu Pigasse, Mediawan is one of the main independent European studios producing premium content, with recognized expertise in content production across all types and formats. The company benefits from long-standing relationships with key stakeholders (broadcasters, cinemas, streaming platforms, etc.) and brings together best-in-class talents in audiovisual creation by operating on the entire value chain: production of drama, documentary, and animated original content (Mediawan Originals and Mediawan Animation), distribution of audiovisual content (Mediawan Rights), and publishing of channels and digital services (Mediawan Thematics). Mediawan currently operates 29 production labels.

The creation of Mediawan, headquartered in Paris, will allow for coproduction projects between two leading independent production and distribution groups in France and Germany. It will be led by Pierre-Antoine Capton (Chairman of the Board of Mediawan) as CEO (Président) and Fred Kogel (LEONINE CEO) as Deputy CEO (Directeur Général). Mediawan will also hold a minority stake in LEONINE, a leading German independent company in content production, distribution, and licensing.

Houlihan Lokey served as the financial advisor to Atwater in connection with the transaction. This deal further demonstrates Houlihan Lokey’s leading position in advising media and entertainment companies around the world.