Shine completes Firefly purchase

Shine has finalised a deal to buy independent production company Firefly for what is understood to be £10m.

Shine has finalised a deal to buy independent production company Firefly for what is understood to be £10m.

As revealed by Broadcast (14 December 2006), Shine swooped on the Anatomy for Beginners producer at the same time as making successful bids for indies Kudos and Princess. The Princess deal is expected to be confirmed in the coming weeks.

Firefly was launched in 2004 by Nick Curwin and Magnus Temple, its managing directors and owners.

Credits include Anatomy for Beginners, To Kill a Burglar: The Tony Martin Story, Autopsy: Life and Death , Going Cold Turkey and The Thieving Headmistress.

The indie's senior management team, led by Curwin and Temple and including director of operations, Francesca Newby and Edwina Silver, head of development and co-productions, will remain with the company. The indie will continue to operate independently while working in partnership with Shine, which is 15% owned by Sony Pictures Television International.

Boardroom antics

Curwin and Temple join the Shine Group board. The deal is thought to have been concluded with a combination of both cash and shares changing hands.

Shine chief executive, Elisabeth Murdoch said: Firefly has created some of the most talked about and ambitious factual programmes in recent times and we are delighted to be in partnership with Nick, Magnus and the team.'

Curwin, joint managing director of Firefly said: 'We are pleased to have found a partner in Shine which shares our creative vision, passion for programme-making and ambition to grow our business.'

Firefly's financial advisers in the transaction were Grant Thornton. The legal advisers were Sheridans.