SMB advise Banijay Group on the acquisition of UK media production company, 7Wonder

Simons Muirhead Burton LLP (SMB) client Banijay UK, part of the Banijay Group, have acquired recent BAFTA winner and producer of factual programming based in the UK, 7Wonder, in their first non-scripted acquisition. Banijay Group is the world’s largest independent content creation group.

Alexandra Fraser, Liza Abbott, and Simon Ellse founded 7Wonder in 2014 and will continue to run the business as Chief Creative, CEO and CFO respectively. 7Wonder produce programmes such as the UK’s adaptation of My Kitchen Rules for Channel 4 and CBeebies pre-school reality series Do You Know?, whose presenter Maddie Moate won this year’s Children’s BAFTA for Best Presenter. The deal will open up international opportunities for the non-scripted independent.

Banijay will see over 160 hours of 7Wonder programming added to its UK non-scripted slate as a result of the transaction, which is Banijay’s first non-scripted acquisition. It is also one of Banijay’s largest acquisitions in any sector to-date.

The deal was led by SMB Partners Neal Hodges and Peter Weiss and Associate Jack Heywood from the Corporate, Commercial and Finance team, and Partner, Tamara Ludlow from the Employment team.

Nicolas Chazarain, Banijay Group’s Chief Legal Officer, has said of SMB:

“The team is fully dedicated to the client’s interests and is able to see the transaction from a global business perspective while at the same time providing precise legal guidance and advice. SMB has proved to be not only a legal advisor, but a business partner dedicated to the success of the transaction for all parties involved. It is key to build a partnership based on reciprocal trust, and benefit from the joint experience. This transaction went very well.”

We would like to wish our client every success in their new venture.