Lord of the Rings Deal
Lord of the Rings Deal
LOTR

CREDIT: THE SAUL ZAENTZ COMPANY

EXCELLENCE
"One Deal to rule them all"
Thomas Dey

INTEGRITY

EXCELLENCE

INSIGHT

Syco

CREDIT: SYCO ENTERTAINMENT

EXCELLENCE
"ACF's certainly got talent"
Ian Rosenblatt OBE

INTEGRITY

EXCELLENCE

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Bear Grylls
INTEGRITY
“You only get one chance
at life and you have to
grab it boldly”
Bear Grylls

CREDIT: BEAR GRYLLS VENTURES

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EXCELLENCE

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Paddington
INSIGHT
“Success doesn't come
to you, you go to it.”
Marva Collins

CREDIT: PADDINGTON AND COMPANY

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Shamrock Capital - Boardwalk Pictures credit
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“Stay true to yourself, never let
what somebody says distract
you from your goals.”
Michelle Obama

CREDIT: BOARDWALK PICTURES

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Pilgrim

CREDIT: PILGRIM STUDIOS

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“Success comes to
those who act!”
Henry David Thoreau

INTEGRITY

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INSIGHT

Pilgrim

CREDIT: PILGRIM STUDIOS

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“Success comes to
those who act!”
Henry David Thoreau

INTEGRITY

EXCELLENCE

INSIGHT

Leftfield
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“The key to success is to
focus on goals not obstacles”
Unknown

CREDIT: LEFTFIELD ENTERTAINMENT

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Plimsoll Productions

CREDIT: PLIMSOLL PRODUCTIONS

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failure is not fatal:
it is the courage to
continue that counts.”
Winston Churchill

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Love Productions

CREDIT: LOVE PRODUCTIONS

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“ When something
is important enough,
you do it even if the odds
are not in your favour”
Elon Musk

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Top Gear
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“Success comes to
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Henry David Thoreau

CREDIT: TOP GEAR

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ACF Advise Bear Grylls & Delbert Shoopman as they join Banijay to form The Premiere Home of Adventure Programming: The Natural Studios

Delbert Shoopman and Bear Grylls

ACF has advised Bear Grylls on his sale to Banijay to form the Premiere Home Of Adventure and become the global go-to adventure TV / Film production studio across all platforms.

The Natural Studios will be led by Bear Grylls and Delbert Shoopman as co-CEO’s.  Backed by Banijay, they will build The Natural Studios into the ultimate ‘Home of Adventure’ where Bear & Delbert will curate best in class talent to form the next generation of adrenaline fueled TV stars, and concepts from around the world. Their vision is to grow the studio into an international production powerhouse, developing both non-scripted and scripted content for broadcasters and SVOD platforms around the world.

Bear & Delbert’s shows have been watched by over 2 billion people worldwide, with an aggregate audience of 120 million for Running Wild (US), and recently garnering over 3.6 billion impressions when the Prime Minister of India joined Bear on an adventure.  Their current slate of shows include Emmy nominated Hostile Planet (Nat Geo), Eco-Challenge (Amazon), Running Wild with Bear Grylls (Nat Geo), Emmy nominated You Vs Wild (Netflix), and BAFTA winning series The Island (C4).

ACF have advised Bear & Delbert over a period of time on the global expansion of their world-renowned brand. This innovative deal follows ACF’s extensive strategic review of Bear’s global brand portfolio and is the first step in an exciting period of international growth for the Bear Grylls brand.


Bear Grylls – The Success Story

Bear Grylls, has become known worldwide as one of the most-recognised faces of survival and outdoor adventure. The BAFTA award winning TV host began his journey in the British Special Forces (21 SAS) before becoming one of the youngest-ever climbers of Mount Everest.

Bear is the author of over 85 books that have sold more than 15 million copies worldwide, including the No.1 bestselling Mud, Sweat, and Tears.

Bear originally starred in Discovery’s hit TV series Man vs. Wild across seven seasons, before hosting the NBC & National Geographic Channel series, Running Wild with Bear Grylls. This show has seen him take global stars such as Julia Roberts, Ben Stiller, President Obama, & Prime Minister Modi of India on adventures into the wild.

Bear has also hosted over six seasons of the BAFTA award-winning Channel 4 series, The Island with Bear Grylls, as well as the Emmy Award nominated series Hostile Planet for National Geographic, and “You Vs Wild” for Netflix.

Delbert has been a constant producing partner alongside Bear for over a decade, helping to grow and build these international formats into the much loved shows they are today.

Bear is a co-owner of the largest outdoor fitness company in Europe: Be Military Fit, the global teamwork and leadership provider: Bear Grylls Survival Academy, the kids animation media business Young Bear Grylls (YBG), and other exciting ventures; such as the Bear Grylls Adventure theme park.

Bear is an Honorary Colonel to the Royal Marines Commandos, the youngest ever UK Chief Scout and the first ever Chief Ambassador to the World Scout Movement, representing a global family of some fifty million Scouts.

Bear and Delbert’s motto is courage, kindness and Never Give Up!

Broadcaster and SVOD Partners – NBC, NETFLIX, FACEBOOK, PRIME, DRAGON TV, ITV & NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC


Bear Grylls & Delbert Shoopman - TV Success

Above: Running Wild with Bear Grylls (National Geographic)
Above: Running Wild with Bear Grylls (National Geographic)
Absolute Wild (Dragon TV), Man Vs Wild (Discovery) Audience 1.2bn
Absolute Wild (Dragon TV), Man Vs Wild (Discovery) Audience 1.2bn
Above: You Vs Wild (Netflix)
Above: You Vs Wild (Netflix)
The Island
The Island With Bear Grylls (ITV)
Above: The Bear Grylls Story in pictures
Above: The Bear Grylls Story in pictures

Bear-Grylls

“It has been an incredible journey for Delbert and I to get to the stage where we can build out our adventure shows under our own Studio. We stand on the shoulders of many giants, The ACF team have been incredible guides through the process – at its heart this is about building the ultimate home of adventure programming worldwide.

TNS will be providing a home for the best adventure talent to help them create shows with us that inspire and move people to go for it in their lives and to never give up.

Banijay & ACF have proved the strongest of partners in this endeavor and we are primed now to extend our current raft of shows across multiple networks, platforms and territories.

The Natural Studios also sits perfectly alongside our kids & animation brand: ‘Bear Grylls; Young Adventurer.’ We will continue to work with ACF & Hasham Khan to explore further global partnerships and bring our message of Never Give Up to an ever wider audience.”

Bear Grylls & Delbert Shoopman The Natural Studios


5/5

What People Are Saying

“Since this was our first time working with an investment bank and raising capital for any of our businesses, I wasn’t sure what to expect. ACF has a great reputation and came highly recommended from several people that I hold in high regard. Overall, the experience working with Richard, Milos and Thomas was pure joy. They were the perfect partner for us, as they educated us as we were working through the process, they challenged us to think bigger about the scope and scale of our business, and they aggressively represented our business in the marketplace bringing multiple opportunities to us in a very challenging economic time. The partnership and guidance they provided was essential and they were extremely easy to work with. I only hope this is the first of many deals that we are able to execute together.”

Shawn Gee
Two One Five Entertainment

"ACF’s certainly got talent. Their team, led by the ever-tenacious Thomas Dey, delivered on their promises and introduced the perfect partners to achieve our goals."

Ian Rosenblatt OBE, Director
Syco Entertainment

"Given the complexities and importance of the rights at stake in our transaction, we interviewed several investment bank candidates at length before retaining ACF to guide our process.  We could not have chosen better!  ACF personnel were dedicated, creative, practical, responsive and deeply knowledgeable about the intricacies of the sales process. Over the months involved, Thomas, Richard, Tatiana and the rest of the ACF staff met with and worked skillfully and credibly with scores of potential buyers and with our own employees leading ultimately to a high value and very fair outcome benefitting both our company and the buyer. They have our deep respect and gratitude for a job so well accomplished"

Marty Glick, COO
The Saul Zaentz Company

“At this stage of 72’s development, there are great advantages and opportunities of joining forces with Fremantle. Their extensive international infrastructure and expertise will provide 72 Films with the platform to have our work seen across the world. We know and like their excellent team. And they offer us not only fantastic support but complete creative freedom so we can continue to work in the same way.

It’s been a real pleasure working with Thomas Dey and the whole team at ACF. They are brilliant at what they do. And alongside Matisse it’s been an incredible team behind this deal.”

Mark Raphael, David Glover, Founders and Chief Executive Officers
72 Films

“This exciting new deal between Broke and Bones and Netflix marks an exciting period of content creation, demonstrating the strong relationship between market leading creatives and the streaming platforms. ACF brokered the deal using our strong track record, experience and access in the UK and USA scripted markets. Premium content continues to lead the market with strong deals that ACF have closed including advising Mammoth Screen on sale to ITV, Neal Street to All3Media, Left Bank Pictures to Sony, Thinkfactory to ITV, Paddington Bear to Studio Canal, New Pictures to All3Media, and Carnival Pictures to NBC Universal.”

Thomas Dey, CEO
ACF Investment Bank

"It has been an incredible journey for Delbert and I to get to the stage where we can build out our adventure shows under our own Studio. We stand on the shoulders of many giants, the ACF team have been incredible guides through the process - at its heart this is about building the ultimate home of adventure programming worldwide."

Bear Grylls & Delbert Shoopman
The Natural Studios

"Critical Content has been a leading player in the unscripted space for the last decade, led by a first class team. Media continues to dominate the deal landscape, with content leading the pack. What a great start to 2022! Congratulations to the whole team."

Thomas Dey, CEO
ACF Investment Bank

"Boardwalk Pictures are one of the preeminent producers of premium content and this partnership with Shamrock secures Boardwalks positioning as a leading player in this market. Shamrock’s deep understanding and experience in the content space makes them great partners for Andrew and the team at Boardwalk. I look forward to seeing the growth and future success of this partnership."

RIchard Gray, Managing Director
ACF Investment Bank