The Oscar-winning British visual effects company, Framestore whose recent work is out – Doctor Strange, is being taken over by a Chinese group in a deal that values it at nearly £150 million (US $187 million).
Framestore has agreed a deal with Cultural Investment Holdings (CIH) which will entail the Shanghai-listed group acquiring 75 per cent of the business. The remainder is owned by the firm’s founder and chief executive, William Sargent, and the rest of the management team.
As part of the deal, Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Berhad is selling its 30 per cent stake in Framestore along with other shareholders who used to work for the business.
“I started the process about nine months ago. We’re swapping the partners we had before for the Chinese group,” said Sargent, who set up Framestore 30 years ago and retains a 10 per cent stake. “I’m looking east.”
Following the firm’s success in North America and Europe, it wants to tap into the fast-growing Chinese and Indian film markets. “It’s not easy to do on our own,” he said. Sargent said CIH had been chosen from a list of 100 interested parties that included bidders from North America, the UK and Asia-Pacific.
Framestore employs two people in Beijing, the centre of the Chinese film industry, and plans to open an office there before Christmas. CIH is also based in Beijing.
Started out as a five person team in Soho, Framestore has become one of the world’s biggest post-production houses in the film industry. With offices now in London, New York, Montreal and Los Angeles, currently it has a staff of 1,400 employs.
Currently the studio is working on Paddington 2 and has also performed the visual effects for JK Rowling’s Harry Potter spinoff Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which opens later this month. It has won an Oscar for its work on Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity in 2014 and was nominated for Oscars for Superman Returns, The Dark Knight and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1.
