The production company is behind such shows as 'Eggheads' and the National Lottery programmes 'Who Dares Wins' and 'In It To Win It'. Its founder David Young created 'The Weakest Link' when he was head of light entertainment at the BBC.
The deal is to be structured with an upfront payment of £26m and a payment of £9m deferred until 2011. According to a report by The Times, £4m of this is unconditional on performance and £5m is dependent on 12 Yard meeting certain targets over three years.
12 Yard is the first in what is expected to be a string of deals for ITV Productions under new global content director Dawn Airey, who has been given £200m to spend on acquisitions.
In September executive chairman Michael Grade set ITV's content division the targets of doubling its revenues by 2012 to around £1.2bn and of raising its share of ITV's commissioned spend from the current 54% to as close to 75% as possible.
Airey said: "We are delighted that 12 Yard is ITV's first acquisition since the announcement of our growth strategy, and I look forward to making further announcements in due course.
"David and his team have built an iconic hit machine that will continue to produce great shows for all its clients, but now as part of the ITV family."
According to The Times, the BBC reacted to the deal by pushing through an order on Monday night for an additional 300 episodes of 'Eggheads' from 12 Yard.
12 Yard has expanded its international revenues by successfully selling 'The Rich List' (known as 'Who Dares Wins' in the UK) in 20 territories. A condition of today's deal is that ITV's Granada International will become the sole international distributor for 12 Yard's programming.
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