Lionsgate has acquired eOne from Hasbro in a $500m deal.
eOne is the owner of Leeds factual production company, Daisybeck and the purchase by Lionsgate marks a significant fall in price for eOne, which was acquired by Hasbro in 2019 for £3.3bn in cash.
The “for sale” sign has hung over eOne since October last year, when Hasbro said it was to concentrate on branded entertainment and digital shorts.
Today’s deal will bring 6500 film and television titles into Lionsgate as well as a global network of scripted and unscripted television and movie producers.
The archive includes 1917, Atomic Blonde, Green Book, Grey’s Anatomy, Criminal Minds, Renegade and Designated Survivor.
As part of the agreement, Lionsgate also will acquire film development rights to Hasbro’s Monopoly, based on the popular board game.
Lionsgate said it would also enable it to scale its operations in the UK and Canada – where its recently set up production partnerships with BBC Studios (Ghosts) and Channel Four (Motherland).
“The acquisition of eOne checks off all the boxes in areas that play to our core strengths,” said Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer.
“It will be immediately and highly accretive, adds a world-class library with thousands of properties, strengthens our scripted and unscripted television business and continues to expand our presence in Canada and the UK. The deal is the culmination of our long-standing relationship with the immensely talented team at eOne, and it continues to build our position as one of the world’s leading independent content platforms with a stockpile of great intellectual properties and a unique, non-replicable portfolio of assets.”
