RDF sold to Bidco for £52m

LONDON - Independent production company RDF Media, behind such programmes as 'Wife Swap' and 'Faking It', has been sold to investment vehicle Bidco in a deal valued at £52m.

Earlier this month, RDF Media's independent directors Richard Eyre, Maggie Carver and Tim Weller said that they had received an indicative cash proposal for an offer of 120p per share and said that discussions were close to completion.

Today's announcement confirms that the terms of the deal have been agreed by RDF's independent directors and Bidco.

Bidco is a newly incorporated private limited company formed by RDF Media's executive directors and Dasym, an investment vehicle managed by 'Big Brother' founder John de Mol's Cyrte Investment, which already holds a 27.5% share of RDF.

RDF Media is headed by chief executive David Frank and produces shows including 'Wife Swap', 'Location, Location, Location' and 'Shipwrecked'.

This March, it transpired that Stephen Lambert, the producer who quit RDF after the 'Queensgate' scandal, was setting up his own company.

The storm between RDF, Buckingham Palace and the BBC occurred after RDF supplied a misleading trailer for its programme 'A Year with the Queen'.

Footage had been manipulated to suggest that the Queen stormed out of a photo-shoot with photographer Annie Leibovitz, but this was not the case.

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