May 11, 2022 - Economy

Reality TV producer Banijay is going public

Dan Primack

Illustration of a television with $100 bill on the TV screen — Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios

Banijay, the production house behind such television shows as "Black Mirror" and "Keeping up with the Kardashians," agreed to go public at an implied €7.2b enterprise valuation via Pegasus Entrepreneurs, an Amsterdam-listed SPAC formed by Tikehau Capital and Bernard Arnault.

Why it matters: This would be Europe's largest-ever SPAC merger, for one of reality television's most prolific producers.

Details: The deal, whose equity value is around €4.1b, also includes online sports gambling group Betclic, with the resulting public company to be called FL Entertainment.

It also comes more than two years after Banijay added significant debt via the €2 billion purchase of Dutch TV production firm Endemol Shine from Apollo Global Management.

What they're saying: "Both the content production and sports betting are globalizing businesses where scale is important and the listing will allow us to grow further and consider more acquisitions." — Banijay's Stéphane Courbit to the FT

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Reality TV producer Banijay is going public

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