RedBird IMI CEO Jeff Zucker has said the UAE-backed investment vehicle wants “to keep growing All3Media” after a quiet spell for the British super producer in the M&A market.
In comments at the Royal Television Society’s Cambridge Convention, former CNN boss Zucker talked up All3Media’s “exceptional” management and the strength of brands like The Traitors.
The vocal backing has not yet translated into All3Media sealing a major acquisition under RedBird IMI, despite hopes last year that it would be unleashed as a buyer of production companies.
All3Media insiders told Deadline earlier this month that the narrative at the company, since its $£1.15B ($1.56M) sale to RedBird IMI, has been one of consolidation rather than expansion.
Over the past year, All3Media has launched two scripted vehicles in the form of George Kay’s Observatory Pictures and Clelia Mountford’s Sunburnt Penguin, but its rivals have swooped on bigger deals for companies including See-Saw and Hartswood Films.
One senior All3Media insider said they were “surprised” that the producer had not completed any major acquisitions, adding that there was frustration that the group appeared to be back to where it was previously under former owners Warner Bros. Discovery and Liberty Global. “You’ve got two different shareholders and everyone has got to agree [on spending],” they added.
Zucker said RedBird IMI wants to “invest in companies here [in the UK],” but he sounded a note of caution about the regulatory environment in the country after being thwarted in his audacious effort to buy The Daily Telegraph newspaper.
“The regulatory environment here, I think, has to change if the UK is going to continue to thrive,” Zucker said. “In the first half of this year, I think there were less IPOs than there had been in 30 years here in the UK. So as we think about investing in companies that we want to grow and maybe eventually take public … London is not necessarily the place we want to do that.”
Without being particularly specific about his concerns, Zucker continued: “The content that is created here is of a quality that’s unmatched. So there’s a lot of reasons to invest here, but there’s some impediments.”
In March 2024, RedBird IMI’s deal for The Telegraph was scotched when the UK government introduced laws barring foreign states or state-affiliated individuals from owning or influencing newspapers. RedBird Capital Partners is now working to secure control of The Telegraph.