Smedvig sells PPC to SDI Media

The deal brings to an end a seven-year holding period for Smedvig, which acquired the business from administration in September 2010.

Financial details of the transaction remain undisclosed, though unquote" understands PPC generated EBITDA of around £2m in 2016.

Under the vendor's tenure, PPC has expanded internationally, opening an office in Los Angeles. It has also focused on speeding up its delivery times, and now offers the option of a 24-hour turnaround.

PPC will continue to operate as a standalone business following the deal. Its new parent has existing operations in Los Angeles, Manila and Warsaw, offering dubbing, subtitling, translation and media services to the wider entertainment industry.

Smedvig makes investments of £2-15m and was invested in PPC via its 10th fund, unquote" understands.

The vendor declined to comment on the returns generated from the sale when contacted by unquote".

Company
Founded in 1982, London-headquartered PPC is a marketing agency focusing on the film industry. It provides TV, cinema and radio campaigns, film trailers, branded programming content, websites, online marketing content and print advertising.

PPC has additional operations in Los Angeles with a total headcount of around 90. Its clients include Walt Disney Pictures, Marvel Studios, the BBC, Channel 4, StudioCanal, Sky, Netflix, Sony Pictures and Universal. According to a statement, the company has worked on 322 films to date in 2017, with its campaigns deployed across 60 countries.

The business generated a turnover of £8.7m in the 2016 financial year, according to publicly available documents, with an operating profit of £2.1m.

People
Smedvig Capital – Robert Toms (managing director).
Picture Production Company – Ben Nicholls (CEO).

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