ITV cuts bidders as Moving Picture sale attracts £40m

LONDON – ITV could raise as much as £40m from the sale of its post-production firm, The Moving Picture Company, as it cuts the shortlist of bidders down to six.

The move follows ITV selling its 5.5% stake in French multimedia company Thomson for £162m to Citigroup and UBS earlier this week as it continues its sell-off of non-core assets, believed to be worth a total of £550m.

The remaining six bidders for the business, which is behind commercials for the likes of Levi's and Stella Artois and music videos for Madonna and Primal Scream, include Kodak and Thomson. US venture capital firm Carlyle is also understood to be in the running.

It was earlier reported that former Carlton boss Michael Green, as well as global advertising group WPP, were also bidding, but it is unclear as to whether they have made the shortlist.

As well as working on major ad TV ads, The Moving Picture Company also provides services to Hollywood studios and has produced special effects for films such as 'Troy' and the 'Harry Potter' series.

Analysts recently estimated that the sale could be as high as £25m, but it looks as though this will be pushed up even further as the auction gathers pace. The deal is not likely to be completed before December.

ITV's sale process began earlier this month when it disposed of Carlton Books, worth £2.5m. It had been making losses of around £1m a year.

Other assets expected to be sold are cinema advertising business Carlton Screen Advertising, which Green is believed to also be interested in, and education specialist Granada Learning.

ITV's stakes in SMG, which owns the Grampian and Scottish television franchises, and in Liverpool and Arsenal football clubs are also up for sale.

If you have an opinion on this or any other issue raised on Brand Republic, join the debate in the .

Topics

Market Reports

Get unprecedented new-business intelligence with access to ±±¾©Èü³µpk10’s new Market Reports.

Find out more

Enjoying ±±¾©Èü³µpk10’s content?

 Get unlimited access to ±±¾©Èü³µpk10’s premium content for your whole company with a corporate licence.

Upgrade access

Looking for a new job?

Get the latest creative jobs in advertising, media, marketing and digital delivered directly to your inbox each day.

Create an alert now

Partner content