Federation Entertainment has taken a majority stake in Jean-Yves Robin’s Robin & Co, signalling the first major Euro M&A deal of 2022.
Around The World in 80 Days and The Bureau producer Federation is on a growth path that saw it launch a France-based TV and film label with Anonymous Content late last year, set up a management and production company in the U.S. and open in the UK with former eOne execs Polly Williams and Arielle Gottlieb, all within a few weeks of each other. It has more than 20 subsidiaries and associated companies worldwide.
The Robin & Co deal will see the coming together of two of France’s larger players.
Robin & Co was founded in 1998 by Robin and has a number of subsidiary labels including Xavier Matthieu’s Calt Studio, Calt Production, Calt Story, Hope Production, Monkey Pack Film and Robin Production, responsible for the likes of Amazon’s Je Te Veux Moi Non Plus, Le Lion and Revenge.
Federation President Pascal Breton praised the “exceptional relationship” that Robin has built with talent as being “unique in France.”
“He and his team of producers know how to accompany all these talents from the ‘Festival du Rire’ comedy festival and small stand-up venues to the biggest popular successes, both in series or cinema,” he added.
Robin added: “Almost 24 years after the creation of Robin & Co, I wanted to give a new impetus to the group by approaching an industry partner who understands where we come from and our way of working, namely through a very strong relationship with our talents. The project that Pascal has built with his team is a perfect fit and I felt the obvious complementarities between our two groups, both artistically and in terms of business.”