Senator Completes Merger With Wild Bunch

BERLIN — Senator Entertainment and Wild Bunch have completed their merger to form an independent film distribution and production group. Senator also closed a capital increase from Wild Bunch’s 55.8 million new shares.

Meanwhile, Wild Bunch’s toppers have been appointed as directors of the new entity, with Vincent Grimond as CEO, Vincent Maraval as CCO and Brahim Chioua as COO within the newly formed board.

Max Sturm, Senator’s CEO, who orchestrated the recent recapitalization and restructuring of the company and the merger with Wild Bunch, will act as CFO.

The new shingle will be active in five European markets (Germany, France, Italy, Spain and U.K.), handle international sales and manage a library of around 2,200 films. Senator, which has just completed its financial restructuring, estimates the outfit will have consolidated revenues of more than €185 million ($212 million) — based on 2013 figures.

The merger is expected to give both companies the financial muscle to face off against new indie giants such as eOne and Studiocanal. Tapping into Europe’s two giant production-distribution markets, the joint venture could also fire up VOD across Europe — though Germany is a still resilient DVD market and France a VOD laggard compared to the U.K.

(John Hopewell contributed to this report.)

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