Wild Bunch AG Secures $40-Million Credit Line From Germany’s Commerzbank
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Wild Bunch AG, the pan-European film and TV group co-founded by Vincent Grimond, Brahim Chioua and Vincent Maraval, has secured a €35 million ($40 million) credit line from Germany’s Commerzbank.
The company told Variety that the new credit line will be used by the banner to continue ramping up its production activities, increase its investment in TV series and support its digital distribution business. The credit will mature in October 2022.
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While the outfit is no longer directly involved in international sales of movies, Wild Bunch is still handling distribution in France, Italy, Spain, Germany and Austria. Its next few releases planned in France include “Beasts Clawing At Straws,” a feature debut by South Korean helmer Kim Young-hoon on July 8, and Keith Thomas’s “The Vigil,” a horror film produced by Blumhouse on Aug.5.
“This loan is the result of the excellent cooperation with the film specialists of the Commerzbank media team. We are very pleased about the trust that Commerzbank has placed in us as one of the largest film and media financiers in Europe has shown,” said Vincent Grimond, the CEO of Wild Bunch AG.
The company, which boasts a library comprising more than 2,500 titles and is listed at the Frankfurt stock market, hit a rough financial patch several years ago and sealed a $130 million financial restructuring plan with its creditors in 2018. The company then shifted its focus from international sales and theatrical distribution to film and TV production, as well as sales of live-action and animated series.
In the last couple years, Wild Bunch has been expanding its footprint in the premium drama landscape across Europe, most recently with the launch of Italy’s BIM Production. The group already boasts Senator Film Produktion, Wild Bunch SA, Wild Bunch TV and Vertigo Films in Spain. Wild Bunch TV’s wide-ranging sales slate include Noah Stollman and Ori Weisbrod’s Israeli crime thriller “The Exchange Principle,” Jérémie Périn’s “Last Man,” based on the cult comic books by Vives, Balak and Sanlaville, and “In Search of the Orient-Express” directed by Marc Eisenchteter and Louis-Pascal Couvelaire.
International sales of films are now being handled by Vincent Maraval’s standalone banner Wild Bunch International which is backed by CAA Media Finance. Wild Bunch has a minority stake in Wild Bunch International. The outfit has six films in this year’s Cannes Official Selection, notably Maiwenn’s anticipated “DNA” (“ADN”).
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