EXCLUSIVE: Scotland’s STV is close to acquiring on-the-block Lego Masters production group Greenbird Media from Keshet International (KI), Deadline understands.
The deal could be unveiled imminently, it is thought, and may amount to a figure in the tens of millions of pounds. Having been acquired from BBC Studios (then BBC Worldwide) in 2018, Greenbird, which is run by Jamie Munro and Stuart Mullin, was placed on the block by Keshet last year, according to a report in TBI.
Headquartered in Scotland, STV is a listed broadcasting and production company that turned over £138M last year. Its production arm, STV Studios, is making the likes of Apple TV+ drama Criminal Record and was behind Channel 4’s Screw. MD David Mortimer recently told Broadcast he wants STV Studios to be the “biggest nations and regions indie.”
When the deal closes, it would hand STV majority stakes in Lego Masters maker Tuesday’s Child and a minority in X Files EP Frank Spotnitz’s indie Big Light Productions and Joe Lycett’s Got Your Back producer Rumpus Media. Greenbird also majority-owns Crackit Productions and has other minority interests in the likes of Hello Halo, Interstellar and Top Hat. The stakes range from 75% in Crackit to 5% in Stacey Dooley’s label Little Dooley, according to Greenbird’s latest Companies House accounts.
Since launch more than a decade ago, London-based Greenbird has operated with an incubator model, investing in British indies, providing them with office space, back office resources, and financial and strategic advice.
Tuesday’s Child, which is Greenbird’s biggest single cash generator, acquired a controlling stake in Singleton producer Interstellar earlier this year. Interstellar came into being in 2020, when Keshet International split its UK scripted and unscripted divisions. The move brought Interstellar under Greenbird’s umbrella.
GothamStreet is advising Greenbird on the sale. KI, STV and Greenbird all declined comment.