{"id":498530,"date":"2026-01-07T08:55:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T08:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/498530\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T08:55:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T08:55:07","slug":"production-house-caviar-engineers-management-buyout-with-together-fund","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/498530\/","title":{"rendered":"Production House Caviar Engineers Management Buyout With Together Fund"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tParis-based Together Fund<\/a>, which was launched last year with a mission to support Europe\u2019s independent film and TV production sector, has chosen Belgium<\/a>\u2019s biggest production house Caviar<\/a> for its first investment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tUnder the operation, the equity fund has supported a management buyout, set in motion by majority shareholder Belgian telecommunications group Telenet\u2019s decision to sell its 70% stake as part of a strategy refocusing its activities on its core telecom business.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Together Fund was launched last April<\/a> under the auspices of Axio Capital with the backing of the\u00a0European Investment Fund\u00a0and an initial capitalization of 58 million euros ($66 million).\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIt is focused on enabling European independent production companies to scale and strengthen in the face of the growing dominance of integrated audiovisual groups.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlexandra Lebret<\/a>, the former longtime Managing Director of the European Producers Club (EPC), co-runs the fund with Axio Capital partner Antoine Bodet, who has advised a number of French film and TV companies over his career including MakingProd and Federation Entertainment. <\/p>\n

\n\tUnder this first investment, the Together Fund has taken a 45% stake in Caviar alongside Belgian serial fintech entrepreneur\u00a0J\u00fcrgen Ingels (SmartFin, Clear2Pay), with the management team taking a 55% majority stake.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tCaviar\u00a0co-founder and managing director\u00a0Bert Hamelinck<\/a> said the creation of the Together Fund last spring was good timing for the company\u2019s management team which was grappling with how to move forward in the wake of Telenet\u2019s 2024 decision to sell its stake.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe didn\u2019t feel like immediately going down the route of another industrial partner or being acquired by a bigger group and were exploring the possibility for a management buyout,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n\tHamelinck co-founded Caviar with managing partners Mathias Coppens and Michael Sagol in Belgium in\u00a02005, out of the fusion of Flemish companies Rose Are Blue and Pix In Motion, with the group since opening up offices in\u00a0London, Los Angeles, Paris,\u00a0Berlin\u00a0and Amsterdam. <\/p>\n

\n\tIt is best-known internationally on the cinema front for the Oscar winning 2021 drama\u00a0Sound Of Metal<\/a>, with other notable movies titles including Riley Keough and Gina Gammell\u2019s Cannes Cam\u00e9ra d\u2019Or winning debut\u00a0War Pony\u00a0and\u00a0Adil El Arbi\u00a0and Bilall Fallah\u2019s\u00a0Rebel.<\/p>\n

\n\tMore recent titles include timely Belgian drama\u00a0The\u00a0Best\u00a0Immigrant, which is in talks for a U.S. remake, and Frank Van Passel\u2019s\u00a0movie The Soundman, which gets its North American premiere at the Palm Springs International Film Festival on Friday.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt is also gearing up for a trio of upcoming U.S. releases: Jody Hill\u2019s\u00a0Famous<\/a>,\u00a0\u00a0Joey Power\u2019s\u00a0Love Language\u00a0<\/a>and Zach Woods\u2019\u00a0The Accompanist\u00a0<\/a>with Aubrey Plaza and Susan Sarandon.<\/p>\n

\n\tNon-scripted programs under the Roses Are Blue\u00a0label\u00a0include hit escape room-themed entertainment format The Way Out (Code van Coppens), which is currently in production in four territories; 99 To Beat in the Netherlands and Germany, Down The Road and The Restaurant That Makes Mistakes.<\/p>\n

\n\tCaviar is also known for its advertising work across a variety of brands with recent credits including Hill\u2019s\u00a0The Trial of Luka Don\u010di\u0107\u00a0for Nike\u2019s Jordan brand, and The Studio-inspired ad for Canadian food delivery app Skip, featuring Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen.<\/p>\n

\n\tHamelinck revealed he had first broached the subject of working with the Together Fund in a meeting with Lebret at Cannes.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI said if we have an opportunity to do this management buyout, would you like to partner with us, because we can\u2019t do it on our own?\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tLebret said she was immediately interested and the Together Fund and Caviar spent the summer and fall getting the investment deal over the line, in partnership with\u00a0Ingels, as well as with support from the company\u2019s banking partner ING.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful company and what they were asking for and aiming to do in terms of growth\u00a0was at the core of our strategy,\u201d\u00a0she said<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe\u2019ve known each other for many years because Bert was a member of the EPC and I\u2019ve followed the company\u2019s growth\u2026 the trust was there from the beginning so it was easy to take the decision because it\u2019s a lot about the men and women who are managing a company when you decide to invest in it\u2026 it was not the most complicated part.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHamelinck suggests the operation is the perfect solution for Caviar and enables it to seamlessly continue a growth strategy put in place when Telenet was its majority shareholder.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe were very keen to keep our independence. Telenet was a very, very good shareholder, and very supportive of our M&A and growth plans\u2026 If we had become part of another group with a different strategy, we would likely have been forced to change course\u2026 which is normal,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe new partners have not revealed what they paid Telenet for its 70% stake in the company.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhat I can say is that we\u2019re expecting revenues of slightly above 200 million euros ($233 million) [for 2025], with EBITDA of around nine million euros ($10.52 Million),\u201d said Hamelinck, adding that the company\u2019s long-term strategy is to double revenue through in-house growth and M&A activity.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlongside Roses are Blue, further companies under the\u00a0Caviar umbrella include Sputnik, and Loom, while the group took a 45% stake in Belgian\u00a0company Versus Production in 2022, with its sister companies\u00a0Inver Invest\u00a0and O\u2019Brother Distribution also included in the deal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tHamelinck said he hoped Caviar\u2019s operation with the Together Fund would encourage more private equity investment in Europe\u2019s independent film and TV sectors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHaving this fund backed by the European Investment Fund and then having private investors teaming up with that fund and creating together, this is unique in Europe. It\u2019s very new and very needed. I think we need a lot more private equity money in our industry in Europe,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s much easier in the U.S. on that side, and we need family offices to believe in this business. So I\u2019m happy that at least now there\u2019s an example. I think having the support of Europe makes it more credible. So I can only hope that this is just the start of many other initiatives.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWith the Together Fund running for a duration of 10 years, Lebret said its aim is to get out of its investments within a timeframe of three to seven years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhen we were negotiating the exit, I was so sad. I was telling them. I don\u2019t want to exit, but that\u2019s the nature and the regulation of the fund,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tOther deals are also in the works, with the fund hoping to announce new investments in this spring.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThey\u2019re different in size, from different countries and different types of companies, reflecting the diversity of Europe\u2019s film and TV scene,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paris-based Together Fund, which was launched last year with a mission to support Europe\u2019s independent film and TV…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":498531,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[223938,111,223939,64,158696,607,156,223940,131931,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-498530","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entrepreneurship","8":"tag-alexandra-lebret","9":"tag-belgium","10":"tag-bert-hamelinck","11":"tag-business","12":"tag-caviar","13":"tag-entrepreneurship","14":"tag-france","15":"tag-sound-of-metal","16":"tag-together-fund","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115852982625831500","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=498530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/498531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=498530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=498530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=498530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}