Sphere Media To Buy ‘Leaving Neverland’ Seller Abacus Media Rights For $18.6M

Jesse Whittock
·3-min read

Canada’s Sphere Media has acquired Abacus Media Rights, the UK-based distributor that sells Leaving Neverland and Scrublands.

Sphere is partnering with Canadian broadcaster Bell Media on the deal with current owner Amcomri Entertainment. Bell owns a sizeable stake in Sort Of producer Sphere following an investment last year.

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The Abacus deal will costs a total of C$24.6M ($18.6M), comprising C$18.3M in cash and the rest in the assumption of loans. The deal, which became binding today, is subject to approval and expected to close in mid-August.

Once it closes, Abacus operate under the name Sphere Abacus Media Rights. Abacus’ sales and acquisitions team will remain based in the UK and continue to report to founder and Managing Director Jonathan Ford, who will in turn join the Sphere Media executive team and report to Sphere Media CEO Bruno Dubé.

Abacus is best known as the distributor of HBO and Channel 4’s Michael Jackson doc Leaving Neverland, which is from Dan Reed’s Amos Pictures. It has a large unscripted catalog including truck crime titles such as My Lover My Killer and the upcoming David Suchet series Travels With Agatha that we recently told you about first. It has also pushed into drama through the likes of Australian drama Scrublands and Sort Of, Bilal Baig and Fab Filippo’s LGBT comedy-drama that Sphere made for CBC.

Sphere is one of the biggest indie producers in Canada, known for making the likes of CBC and BET+ drama The Porter and Transplant, which is for CTV and NBC in the U.S., and produces in both English and French. Bell bought a minority stake in the company last year.

Dubé said that after building out Sphere’s production business in Canada and internationally, it had been “looking for a strategic partner that mirrors and complements this quality both in terms of slate and reputation.

“Now to be teaming up with Abacus Media Rights and its enviable range of partners, we look forward to exploring all the collaborations and creative enterprise possible to push the very boundaries of what we can achieve together.”

Abacus launched in March 2020 with backing from Amcomri soon after Kew Media Group had collapsed under the weight of debts that followed several company acquisitions. Kew Media Distribution, the sales unit Ford led, was profitable and found its cash being used to service other costs elsewhere in the group.

Ford and his team brought several Kew partners over to Abacus, with the likes of Leaving Neverland director Dan Reed and Nick Broomfield. The company has since grown into a major UK distributor, doing multi-millions of dollars of turnover each year since launch, striking deals with the likes of Prime Video, BritBox and Netflix.

“I’d like to thank Amcomri for their support as AMR has grown over recent years,” said Ford. “As we move to the next stage in our development, we are delighted to be joining the Sphere Media Group, where, once the deal is closed, we will operate as the international distribution arm alongside their standout production business.

“Our sales and acquisitions teams are looking forward to continuing our strong partnerships with worldwide independent production companies, investing in and setting up financing, as well as selling and pre-selling content into the global market.”

Amcomri Entertainment CEO Robert Price said that the sale would “bring more scale and power to Abacus’s existing growth plans, creating a dynamic new force on the international stage.” Amcomri still owns distributor 101 Films.

Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP acted as legal advisor to Amcomri, while Rex Media Capital Inc. was Sphere’s financial advisor and DSL LLP was its legal advisor.

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