Fondo Italiano di Investimento acquired a 15 pct stake in the capital of Filmmaster Group , an advertising content production company (through its subsidiary Filmmaster Productions) and big events promoting company (through Filmmaster Events. Among other events, Filmmaster Group together with the Brazilian company SRCOM is the production company of the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Ceremonies.
Filmmaster is controlled by IEG – Italian Entertainment Group which in turn is owned by well known Italian entrepreneurs such as Luigi Abete,Aurelio De Laurentiis, Diego Della Valle and the Haggiag family.
The deal was announced last December 2013 and consists in a capital increase and a bond (convertible and mandated convertible) both subscribed by Fondo Italiano d’Investimento with the aim to build a new group in the media and entertainment sector named Italian Entertainment Network with 150 million euros of revenues. Fondo Italiano was supported in the deal by Legance law firm.
IEG is also the majority shareholder of Cinecittà Studios (one of the most important film studio facilities in Europe) and of the new Roma Cinecittà World theme park. IEG is also working with Filmmaster Events towards the reopening of Rome’s Luneur Park, one of the oldest in Europe.
Last December IEG and Fondo Italiano told that the deal consists in merging IEG’s stakes in the capital of Filmmaster Group, Civita Cultura (a leading company in the development of museum services) and CineDistricEntertainment under a unique operating holding and that this is why principal shareholders of Civita Cultura are taking part to the deal (i.e. Costa Edutainment Group, D’Amico Società di Navigazione, Api, Fondazione Venezia and Editoriale Progetto e Servizi, the latter being parte of Gruppo editoriale A.Be.T.E),