Vuelta Group Buys Telepool From Will Smith's Westbrook

Al Munteanu, Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith Vuelta / Getty

European production and sales studio Vuelta Group has bought German producer Telepool from Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s Westbrook.

The deal, struck through Vuelta subsidiary SquareOne, will see a combined business operating under the SquareOne banner. SquareOne and Vuelta Group Germany CEO Al Munteanu will lead the banner, with Michael Heyd serving as CFO and COO.

Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but the combined group will boast a library of over 1,200 titles such as Drive, Intouchables, Olympus Has Fallen, Transporter 3 and the recently released One Life. It will form part of the growing Vuelta Group, which in July last year we revealed had formed through the acquisitions of SquareOne, Paris-based international sales firm Playtime Group and Nordic distributor-producer Scanbox.

Vuelta Group Chairman Jeromt Levy, who launched the group with $50M backing from an unnamed U.S. private equity firm, announced the news today along with Munteanu.

“For over 60 years, Telepool has been one of the leading global content houses and we are proud of the work we did with the company, said Westbrook CEO Kosaku Yada. “We are grateful to Yoko Higuchi-Zitzmann for her leadership over the past two years. Her respect from the creative community has been instrumental in Telepool’s success.”

“The new and expanded company will be active across distribution and production,” said Munteanu. “The combined entity enables SquareOne to offer German-speaking audiences a strong and varied slate of theatrical releases going forward, across multiple genres — from ‘smarthouse’, comedies, and actioners to high-end family entertainment: The Last Breath, Lords of War, Hellboy, Broker Homefront 2, and Bambi being the first out of the gate.”

Westbrook´s EVP of Corporate Development, Ryan Ascencio, said the U.S. company was “happy to have found the right partner for Telepool with the Vuelta Group and wish them all the best as they continue their vision to expand their new and vibrant media powerhouse. We are eager to continue our collaboration on our projects going forward.”

Among Telepool’s assets is international sales division Global Screen, which shops the likes of animation productions The Amazing Maurice and Luis and the Aliens, dramas including The Collini Case and The Conference, and new titles such as World War II drama Stella – A Life and canine adventure Lassie – A New Adventure.

“I am excited to see the unique positioning of Global Screen work hand in hand with the know-how of the Playtime sales group to cover a larger spectrum of projects in acquisitions and increase our collective impact on the market,” said Nicolas Brigaud Robert of Playtime. “Currently, Playtime and its subsidiaries have seven films premiering at the Cannes Film Festival with The Seed of the Sacred Fig by Mohammad Rasoulof in the Official Selection in Competition, both The Marching Band by Emmanuel Courcol and Meeting with Pol Pot by Rithy Panh in Cannes Premiere, Black Dog by Guan Hu in Un Certain Regard, Apprendre by Claire Simon in Special Screenings, Animale by Emma Benestan in the Critics’ Week and Eephus by Carson Lund in the Directors’ Fortnight.”

For Telepool, the sale comes just over two years after we revealed Westbrook had taken full control of the business, including the 50 percent stake previously owned by Swiss financier Elysian Invest. Will Smith and German-Swiss filmmaker Marc Forster had initially taken 50% each in the company in 2018. Prior to that the company had been owned by German public service broadcasters.

Outgoing Telepool CEO Higuchi-Zitzmann said: “I am proud of everything we achieved at Telepool. My sincere thanks go to my fantastic colleagues, our outstanding content partners and to Westbrook, with whom I have worked so productively. I wish the wonderful team of professionals and the new owners of the Vuelta Group Germany only the very best. I am convinced that Telepool will continue to be in the best hands.”

“This latest Vuelta Group acquisition is in line with our vision and strategy to create an integrated European studio, with the capacity to produce and distribute across multiple territories,” adding: “Germany is an important territory where we will keep investing through co-productions and acquisitions”.

Lazard acted as exclusive financial advisor to Westbrook and Telepool.