Twenty-seven years after orchestrating his first reverse takeover, Michael MacMillan is at it once more.
The Canadian media mogul’s privately-owned world content material firm,
Blue Ant Media Inc.
, is anticipated to go public in July by way of a reverse takeover of Boat Rocker Media Inc.
Toronto-based Boat Rocker creates, produces and distributes scripted, unscripted and youngsters and household programming, together with Prime Chef Canada, The Wonderful Race Canada, Palm Royale and Orphan Black.
As a part of the deal, Blue Ant Media is buying Boat Rocker’s public itemizing, materials money readily available and three manufacturing firms: Perception Productions, Correct Tv and Jam Crammed Leisure.
IDJCo, a brand new entity fashioned by three Boat Rocker executives, will purchase Boat Rocker Studios, the model and franchise administration operations, artistic and enterprise partnerships and content material funding enterprise, and can keep it up enterprise underneath the Boat Rocker title.
MacMillan co-founded Blue Ant in 2011 and has constructed the corporate into a global powerhouse content-producer, distributor and channel operator, producing such reveals as Canada’s Drag Race and proudly owning specialty channels similar to Love Nature and Cottage Life.
MacMillan will grow to be chief govt of the brand new firm, which can be named Blue Ant Media Company and, topic to regulatory approval, will commerce on the Toronto Inventory Change underneath the ticker BAMI.
The deal was proposed by
Fairfax Monetary Holdings Ltd.
, Boat Rocker’s largest shareholder and a shareholder and “backer of Blue Ant since day one,” mentioned MacMillan. Fairfax will present further monetary help for the transaction via a $20-million backstop dedication, and also will purchase Boat Rocker’s minority curiosity in The Preliminary Group for $17 million.
“On this market, it’s extraordinarily tough to do an
IPO
. There have been only a few performed in Canada, or the U.S. for that matter, prior to now a number of years,” mentioned MacMillan. “So, this was a faster method for us to go public.”
The deal will even give Blue Ant a major injection of money. MacMillan mentioned his firm hasn’t raised capital since 2016 and has financed its development utilizing money generated from annual earnings and the occasional asset sale.
As a part of the transaction, Blue Ant will obtain a minimal money stability of $25.5 million and normalized internet working capital, and USD$11.6 million in money from the monetization of Boat Rocker’s possession in Los Angeles-based The Preliminary Group.
“The media business is seeing some important challenges slash alternative — relying on if the glass is half empty or half full — and we had been excited about actually attempting to turbocharge our development and seize maintain of alternatives that we see in entrance of us in the present day in an evolving media panorama. And to try this, we needed entry to extra capital,” mentioned MacMillan.
Quite a bit has modified in Canada’s media panorama since MacMillan co-founded Atlantis Movies Ltd. in 1978 with simply $300. Atlantis acquired Alliance Communications in a reverse takeover in 1998 and fashioned Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc., changing into a powerhouse studio and distributor.
MacMillan mentioned buying Alliance and going public was a “seminal second” at a time when the media business was additionally present process important modifications.
“There have been type of winners and losers within the sense that in case you might adapt to the modifications, there have been actually cool alternatives, however in case you couldn’t, you may find yourself being trampled on,” mentioned MacMillan. “Attempting to embrace new know-how and alter was one of many many classes I discovered about going public with Atlantis within the first place.”
As head of a Canadian firm with a world focus, MacMillan feels a way of “profound optimism and alternative” in the way in which know-how and the Web is altering the way in which his business operates.
MacMillan mentioned mergers and acquisitions can be a “a reasonably important device in our development equipment,” and sees the largest alternatives for Blue Ant in shopping for or launching extra worldwide channels targeted on area of interest genres that journey nicely, have a protracted shelf life and don’t break the bank to create.
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He additionally sees a possibility in buying extra present catalogs of programming to gasoline Blue Ant’s worldwide distribution enterprise and constructing further worldwide program manufacturing capability.
“When you’ve got a robust stability sheet and a wise administration workforce who’s acquired expertise and is aware of what they’re doing and is ready to be a smart allocator of capital, it’s some of the essential jobs of operating an organization, however definitely a public firm as nicely,” mentioned MacMillan. “I believe there’s plenty of purpose to be optimistic, and that’s why we’re going public.”
• E-mail: jswitzer@postmedia.com
