Prolific Madrid-based producer is behind shows for Prime Video, ViX and La Sexta
Spanish production outfit Onza Entertainment has become the first acquisition for recently launched audiovisual investment fund, Culture CAP7.
Onza, which was founded by José María Irisarri, Gonzalo Sagardía and Nicolás Bergareche in 2013, is behind TV shows including upcoming series Infelices Para Siempre (Unhappily Ever After) for ViX and Atasco (Traffic Jam) for Prime Video.
The deal will see the Culture Cap 7 Fund I FCR taking a majority stake in Onza, which has also produced films such as Atasco, Parot and its sequel, Perverso.
Irisarri, Sagardia and Bergareche will remain involved with the company, with Sagardía retaining his chief exec position.
Onza is among Spain’s best-known independent production companies, with a subsidiary in the Basque Country and offices in Miami. It also produces docuseries, with Vulnerable due to launch shortly on La Sexta, and also operates a global sales arm that distributes its own content and that of third parties.
Sagardia said: “We are very excited about this new phase in which Culture CAP7 Fund has chosen Onza as the foundation for building an ambitious project focused on growth and value creation in the Spanish-speaking audiovisual market.”
The fund, which is managed by Blackpearl Capital Management and backed by the State Society for Technological Transformation (SETT), launched last September and is looking to buy majority stakes in Spanish audiovisual SMEs.
CAP7 said in a statement that the deal was “key to the fund’s strategy, which aims to incorporate diverse creative talent into an ecosystem in which Onza is responsible for the financial structuring and material execution of projects conceived and developed by independent creators.”
“This is a unique project that combines capital, talent, and strategic vision to provide the boost the Spanish audiovisual sector needs to grow and compete in a global market,” the company added.
The Culture CAP7 Fund has a target size of €60m (£52m) and “will continue to deploy its strategy with investments aimed at companies operating across the entire value chain of the audiovisual sector, including production, distribution, post-production, services and technology.”
The sale to Culture CAP7 Fund is not Onza’s first corporate transaction. In September 2022, the company acquired a stake in Garbo Produzioni, Maite Bulgari’s holding company.
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