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Creator of 'The X Factor' Simon Cowell has securitized the 'Got Talent' franchise with a 'groundbreaking' USD 125 million deal.
According to Variety, the "America's Got Talent" and "Britain's Got Talent" television programmes are both included in the securitization of the franchise's intellectual property. The assets of the franchise and its offshoots, including "production margins and fees, digital income, franchise and original content sales, and sponsorship income," have been gathered as part of the agreement. Around the world, 72 countries, including Armenia, Chile, and Egypt, have licenced the "Got Talent" franchise. "Most International Versions for a Reality Television Format" now holds the Guinness World Record. Investment bank for media and entertainment ACF and law firm Memery Crystal advised Syco. The transaction, according to ACF, took more than two years and involved teams on both sides of the Atlantic. The form of the agreement is comparable to that of royalty income streams in the music business. According to ACF, the "war-chest" generated by the securitization deal will be used by Syco to "grow the business through a mixture of strategic acquisitions and organic growth projects." "ACF's certainly got talent," said Ian Rosenblatt, director of Syco Entertainment. "Their team, led by the ever-tenacious Thomas Dey, delivered on their promises and introduced the perfect partners to achieve our goals." Dey, ACF's founder and CEO, said: "ACF worked with Syco to formulate this financial strategy to support its plans and managed the entire process as the lead bank. Our brief was to create a structure to enable the company to maximise the full potential of its existing passive royalty income stream. ACF has created a winning formula using our extensive experience across the media and entertainment sector. We are certain that this ground-breaking structure will be one that we will use for many media formats in the future," as quoted by Variety The British and American versions of Britain Got Talent both feature Cowell as a judge, and the programme is broadcast in over 69 different nations. (ANI)
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