Mediapro closes the sale of the Imagina group to the Chinese fund Orient Hontai

After the final authorization of the competition authorities of the Asian country, Orient Hontai retains 53.5% of Imagina, while the WPP group holds 22.5% and the founding partners, Tatxo Benet and Jaume Roures, who will remain at the head of the group's management, 12% each.

Once all necessary regulatory and administrative authorizations have been obtained, Imagine Audiovisual Media y Orient Hontai Capital have made effective this Tuesday the agreement for the acquisition of 53.5% of Imagina. The group's shareholders are made up of: Orient Hontai (53.5%), WPP (22.5%), and the founding partners of the group, Tatxo Benet (12%) and Jaume Roures (12%). Jaume Roures and Tatxo Benet They will continue to direct the audiovisual group.

The operation was agreed in February 2018 and places the Imagina's corporate value at 1.9 billion euros.

Imagina offers its audiovisual services on five continents. It currently produces, in whole or in part, 13 national leagues and is a regular service provider for competitions such as the Champions League and the Europa League. At this moment, more than 300 of the group's professionals are deployed at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia and have been chosen as host broadcaster for the next Pan American Games (Lima 2019), the largest sports competition on the American continent.

The group's content division is involved in production projects for HBO, Netflix, Amazon, Turner, Fox and DirecTV, with creative talents such as Ran Tellem, David Simon, Daniel Calparsoro, Paolo Sorrentino and Daniel Écija. In addition, Imagina is an international benchmark in sports rights, having been awarded the rights to the UEFA Champions League for the next three seasons, the exploitation of the rights of the Spanish League in public establishments, the rights to Ligue 1 (France) and the commercialization of the international rights of the Spanish League, among others.

The sale of a significant stake in Imagina generated great interest in the international market, evidencing Imagina's solid situation and its growth potential and the market's confidence in the Group's business model and growth strategy. The operation will not only allow Imagina to introduce advanced audiovisual production technology in China, but also opens new perspectives for cooperation between China, Spain and Latin America in fields such as audiovisual technology, content production, cultural and sports exchanges...

In 2017, Imagina recorded a business volume of 1,649 million euros (with an EBITDA of 189 million euros).

As for Orient Hontai Capital is a subsidiary of Orient Securities Capital Investment, owned by Orient Securities, a Chinese listed company with A and H shares, and which constitutes an important direct investment platform for the group. Through several funds under his management, he has made domestic and foreign equity investments focused on the technology and media sectors, including investments in companies such as AppLovin, Funplus, China Mobile Games and Entertainment or Shanda Games, among others. Orient Hontai Capital has dedicated significant resources to the media technology market and will continue to consolidate its path of establishing strong relationships with the leading companies in the sector.

Citibank and Lazard have acted as financial advisors to Imagina. Deutsche Bank and GBS Finance acted as financial advisors to OHC. Deutsche Bank (Left Lead), Citibank and Goldman Sachs have secured financing for the operation. Regarding the legal, financial and tax aspects, the legal team of Eneko Belausteguigoitia and EY have advised Imagina; while Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and KPMG Advisory China have advised OHC.