Equistone sells The Mill to Technicolor for £190m

Under the GP's tenure, the company undertook an international expansion strategy and moved its London operations into a bespoke facility. It has also made a number of senior appointments, recently hiring Peter King as executive producer for automotive, while appointing two international executive producers to expand the company's reach across Europe and Asia.

Technicolor made the investment entirely off its existing balance sheet.

Equistone's sale of The Mill comes two months after the GP sold German logistics supplier In Time Express Logistik to South African business Super Group for €153.5m.

Previous funding
Equistone, (at the time known as Barclays Private Equity) acquired The Mill in a £119m tertiary buyout from The Carlyle Group in April 2011.

Carlyle had acquired The Mill from 3i in February 2007 in a deal that has since been reported to have been worth around £50m. Under Carlyle's tenure, the company had opened a new office in Los Angeles and expanded its geographical reach with a focus on Asia.

Company
Founded in 1990 and headquartered in London, The Mill provides visual effects and video content production for the advertising and marketing sectors.

The company generated revenues of £110m in 2014, with its client roster including Coca Cola, Guinness and Nike. It has a headcount of 800 across its offices in London, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

People
Equistone partners Steven Silvester and Sam Breuning led the sale. Frederic Rose is CEO of Technicolor.

Advisers
Equity – Harris Williams (M&A); Travers Smith (Legal); PwC (Financial due diligence); Deloitte (Tax).

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Exits
• UK / Ireland
• Media
• United Kingdom
• Equistone Partners Europe