Deluxe has acquired film scanning and grading company Midnight Transfer for an undisclosed fee.

The company will retain its name and continue to operate from its Wardour Street premises.

It will be one of four companies to sit under the Deluxe Digital London brand.

The other companies are the Dering Street-based Capital FX, Deluxe Digital Cinema and Deluxe DI.

New managing director of Deluxe Digital London Mark Allen said: “Over time we will work out which of our digital services [DI, titling, digital cinema and dailies] are best suited to which premises and create centres of excellence in both buildings.”

All 22 Midnight Transfer staff will stay on under the new owner.

Allen said: “This acquisition fits with our portfolio as we combine 35mm with a new digital world.”
The acquisition followed a difficult few years for Midnight Transfer, which purchased£2m worth of equipment in 2005 during a period when the film market was suffering as a result of unfavourable tax breaks.

It went into voluntary administration in 2006. At that point, founder Neil Harris' dormant non-trading company, Midnight Film Productions Ltd, took on the assets, goodwill and intellectual property from the adminis-trator.

Midnight Transfer specialises in the creation of feature film dailies, DI grading, film scanning and telecine, VT duplication and QC. It was set up in 1992 and added remastering and restoration to its offering last year.

Deluxe Digital London is part of the global Deluxe Entertainment Services group, a wholly owned subsidiary of MacAndrews and Forbes Holdings Inc.

Other Deluxe facilities are located in Los Angeles, Toronto, Rome, Florence, Madrid, and Barcelona.

In January of this year, Deluxe Vancouver completed the acquisition of Rainmaker's post production and visual effects business in Vancouver and its visual effects operation in London.

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