Travers Smith LLP has advised the selling shareholders, including majority shareholder Equistone Partners, on the sale of the Mill to Technicolor, for a total value of £190 million.
Founded in 1990, the Mill is the world’s largest visual effects and content creation studio for the advertising industry. The company is headquartered in London and has operations in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Its recent advertising work includes award-winning commercials for Audi, SSE and DirecTV.
The acquisition by Technicolor, a worldwide technology leader in the media and entertainment sector, will reinforce Technicolor’s strong portfolio of brands including MPC, Mr. X and Mikros Image. It will also further establish its industry-leading position for visual effects and digital creation across all segments of high-end content, including cinema, TV and advertising.
The Travers Smith team, which represented its long-standing client Equistone Partners, was led by corporate partner Ian Shawyer (who also acted previously on the sale by The Carlyle Group to Equistone Partners in 2011). Ian was assisted by corporate associates Naveed Anwar, Stacey Beggs and James Parker. They worked alongside a specialist team including tax partner Simon Skinner, tax associates Andrew Callaghan and Angela Tang, employment associate David Harford, finance associate Nihaal Khanna and anti-trust associate Stephen Whitfield.
Harris Williams provided corporate finance advice for The Mill.
Technicolor was advised by Berwin Leighton Paisner (legal) and and Perella Weinberg Partners (corporate finance).