Brown Bag Films has been acquired by 9 Story Media Group, one of North America’s largest animation studios. Brown Bag Films will retain its brand, with Cathal Gaffney, founder and CEO, Darragh O’Connell, founder and Creative Director, and the senior management team continuing to lead the company.
The company will continue to focus on its international co-productions and commissioned shows, with service work remaining as a key focus for the business. Brown Bag Films also plans to hire an additional 50 staff in the near future as the company looks to reach new markets with its content.
Brown Bag Films opened a studio in Manchester in 2014 and has received a number of Oscar nominations over the years, namely Give Up Yer Aul Sins (2002) and Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty (2010), three Emmy awards for Peter Rabbit (2014) and a host of BAFTA, Emmy and Annie nominations for their hit shows Octonauts, Doc McStuffins and Henry Hugglemonster.
Gaffney and O’Connell said they did the deal after exploring a range of options to take the company to the next level. “The deal will see both companies leverage each other’s strategic strengths in order to achieve their vision of becoming the largest pure play kids’ content studio in the world,” said Gaffney.
9 Story Media Group has one ofthe largest studios in North America, and a successful global distribution division.
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According to Gaffney (pictured): “This is a coming together of two great companies with a shared love of animation and storytelling that really resonates with kids. I am truly excited about this opportunity that we have worked so hard on and I look forward to continuing to produce the best animated content for children across the globe with 9 Story long into the future.
“This new chapter is the next logical step for us in our ongoing evolution and will ensure that audiences around the world get to watch more of the great shows they have come to expect from Brown Bag Films.”
“Sometimes you have to jump at an opportunity and 9 Story were always a company that we admired creatively and professionally. By joining forces, they now have 3D animation and we now have distribution. There are so many synergies like this that made this deal a compelling and obvious opportunity that we wanted to take advantage of, but ultimately all of these synergies will see both companies grow and become stronger together.
Darragh O’Connell, co-founder and Creative Director, added: “The combined entity will give us a greater bandwidth and wider global reach for getting our shows into production and watched by as many children as possible. This deal allows us to concentrate on what we have always done very well – making great shows for kids.”
Vince Commisso, CEO of 9 Story Media Group, commented: “Cathal, Darragh and their team in Ireland have a well-established track record and an outstanding reputation for producing high quality animation. This transformative transaction extends our footprint into Europe, broadens our content offering to distribution partners and audiences worldwide, combines best in class CGI and 2D, and optimally positions the company for tremendous growth.”
Brown Bag Films recorded a 43% rise in pre-tax profits to €1.6m through 2013. Brown Bag’s net worth was €5.2m and the firm more than doubled its cash reserves to €2.7m in 2013. Turnover through 2013 was €18.4m.
Its most recent production is the Bafta-nominated ‘Bing’, a pre-school series for CBeebies, which premiered in June 2014. As well as its Dublin office, Brown Bag has three facilities in the UK and two in L.A.
Founders Gaffney and O’Connell had a 50/50 share of the equity. The transaction value was not disclosed but observers speculated on a deal value of around €16m. The vendor was advised by Investec Corporate Finance.
