Endemol buys Home and Away production company in £38m deal

by Staff, Brand Republic 20-Jan-09, 09:00

LONDON - Endemol, the television company behind 'Big Brother', has paid $75m (£38m) to Fairfax Media for Southern Star, Australia's largest independent television production company and distributor of Australian soap 'Home and Away'.

As well as Aussie tea time teen soap 'Home and Away', Southern Star distributes shows including 'Blue Heelers' and 'Water Rats', and Robson Green's ITV1 crime drama 'Wire in the Blood'.

Its international arm is one of the world's largest independent distributors of English language television programming, selling to more than 200 countries from offices in Sydney, London and Paris.

Hugh Marks will continue as chief executive of Southern Star Group, reporting to Endemol's chairman and chief executive, Ynon Kreiz.

The move marks the first acquisition made by Kreiz since he joined the company in June, when it was acquired by a consortium of Silvio Berlusconi's Mediaset, Goldman Sachs and original co-founder John de Mol in 2007.

Endemol was bought for €3.1bn (£2.4bn) having previously been majority owned by Telefonica, the Spanish phone company.

The deal includes Southern Star International, Southern Star Entertainment and Southern Star's 49% share in the joint venture company Endemol Southern Star.