Great Point Media (Great Point), a London-based media and investment group and US institutional fund manager MC Credit Partners (MCCP), have partnered to finance film and television programming globally.
Funds managed by MCCP will invest up to USD100 million in the partnership and Great Point has already committed a minimum of USD80 million. It represents the first institutional investment for Great Point’s global project finance fund and will be used to finance larger-scale media projects.
Commenting on the investment, Robert Halmi, Chairman of Great Point Media, says: “Since 2013, Great Point Media has produced, financed and distributed more than USD600m of content and financed over 170 projects. This commitment from MCCP is recognition of how far we have come and a welcome sign that larger institutions are seeing the investment opportunity within the TV and film sector. We expect this fund to grow significantly in the coming months. Our ambition is to continue to grow our successful model and look for larger projects that are being made for the studios, traditional broadcasters and new platforms who are all commissioning an increasing amount of original content. We are in a great position to help service the industry with a growing, efficient source of capital.”
The UK’s film and television sector has experienced significant growth in recent years. In 2018 film and TV production spend reached GBP3.16 billion across 349 productions. The contribution of film and TV production to the UK economy has increased by 80 per cent between 2012-2016 with a GBP6.1 billion contribution to the economy from film business alone in 2017.
Ashok Nayyar, Chief Investment Officer of MCCP, says: “This is an exciting investment for us. We find growing markets and back top management in the most attractive sectors in those markets. The global film and TV business is growing exponentially, with demand for quality content far outstripping supply. Great Point has a top team, has demonstrated significant insight into the industry, and has a proven track record for backing winning projects.”
Increasing competition between the streaming platforms such as Netflix, Amazon, Disney and Apple, has driven demand for quality and original content. Independent UK producers have delivered record revenues of more than GBP3 billion in 2018, up 10 per cent from the previous year, according to industry body Pact.
Great Point is also investing in developing new studio space to meet this increasing demand for content. In September, Great Point Capital partnered with US entertainment company Lionsgate to develop a USD100-plus million studio complex in Yonkers, New York. Great Point is currently assessing seven additional sites for studio development in the UK, US and Europe.
