The founders of one of the leading Spanish-language content producers notify the securities market of their intention to acquire a controlling interest
Raúl Berdonés and Pablo Jimeno, executive chair and CEO, respectively, of Grupo Secuoya, have announced a takeover bid to acquire a majority stake in the content company. Specifically, the founders of the group are announcing a takeover bid for 55% of share capital. In addition to their current take of 25%, this represents 80% of the shareholding, with a premium over the quoted share price of 55,9% and placing a value on the company value of €127.5 million. Secuoya thus reaffirms its position as the only independent international content group owned by Spanish shareholders, with the clear goal of consolidating its position as a content studio with a global reach.
Alongside this transformation of the shareholder structure, the company will soon announce the group’s business strategy for the coming years, with a firm purpose: to lead the world in Spanish-language content production. The renovation is aimed at integrating the best creative talent and the most outstanding producers in the Spanish-speaking market.
Since its inception, Grupo Secuoya has made a strong commitment to internationalisation. Today, we operate continuously in four markets: the United States, Latin America, the Middle East and Europe. Secuoya is now a company with more than 2,000 permanent employees and 10,000 external partners in our range of productions developed over the past year, operating in Los Angeles, Miami, Mexico City, Bogota, Lima, Santiago de Chile, Doha, Abu Dhabi and Madrid. The company has more than 500 clients around the world and more than two billion views.
With Secuoya Studios as the key player in the execution of the 360º operation strategy of the content business, the company is passionately committed to the best talent in Spanish, both at the creative and executive level, with the clear goal of generating the best stories for the global market. David Martínez, Alfredo Pérez de Albéniz and Eduardo Campoy lead the creative areas of the studio – Unscripted, Film and Fiction – in addition to the Stories department, headed by Eduardo Galdo, and Production Services and Commercial & Distribution, the latter led by Sergio Pizzolante’s team, located in the Miami office.
The studio, chaired by James Costos from its Beverly Hills headquarters in Los Angeles, is committed to large local productions with a global vision, with the highest standards of Hollywood production based on international creation, development and distribution models. Secuoya Studios also provides production services to international projects through the area headed by José María González-Sinde. The studio has the support of the best VFX, postproduction and recording teams in a completely unique audiovisual ecosystem: World Content City. This is a pioneering platform of sets across four countries, which will support up to 47 sets, making Secuoya Studios unique and different. There will be full integration of all processes, from creation and development through production facilities (sets, cameras, VFX and post-production) and content distribution, with a model similar to that of Hollywood’s Big Five majors.
In just over two years, Secuoya Studios has generated an extensive catalogue of high-quality content and garnered widespread audience success. Our Fiction productions, such as our latest premiere Montecristo, starring a first-class artistic cast led by international star William Levy, hold the top positions in the ranking of the most popular series among ViX and Movistar Plus+ users, thus confirming the success of the studio’s content production model. The company is also finalizing one of its most anticipated projects, Zorro, an adaptation of the classic in co-production with Andy Kaplan and John Gertz, directed by Javier Quintas and starring Miguel Bernardeau and Renata Notni, which will be available on Prime Video in Spain, Latam and the United States.
Among many other milestones, the studio has achieved audience support and loyalty for programs such as Españoles en el mundo and 091: Alerta Policía; the success of the two seasons of the comedy Supernormal, which will soon be seen on the screens of Portugal, Greece and Cyprus; a warm reception for films such as El Test, Papá o mamá, Todos lo hacen, Super agente Makey, El mejor verano de tu vida and Hasta que la boda nos separe, as well as the prominence of Secuoya Studios’ productions in Chile, where it has cemented its position as the leading studio in content production for prime time.
Grupo Secuoya, chaired by Raúl Berdonés, was founded in 2008 as part of a shared vision of the emerging Spanish TV market, with a view to the creation, design and production of content for the small screen. The group has a leading position in the TV sector and confirms the efficiency of its business model, which has been successfully exported to other countries.
Grupo Secuoya has proved able to identify the right opportunities to respond to the needs of the TV industry, anticipating the ongoing transformation of the domestic and international market. This is the story of a company that is confident in its ideas, passion, talent, effort and teamwork.
