Spanish prodcos merging to form major player

Spanish producers Zebra Producciones and Veralia Contenidos are merging their TV activities to form a new player on the market, iZen Producciones.

The new company hold a piece of in international content group iZen, in which France’s Elephant and the Middle East’s Imagic also have stakes, as Zebra previously owned shares.

Both prodcos will retain their individual identities within the group, with  Zebra founder and CEO José Velasco becoming executive president, Carloe Boserman general manager and head of Veralia, Sara Fernández-Velasco a board member and head of Zebra, and Beatriz Velasco head of Zebra subsidiary Proima Zebrastur.

Also part of the group are Boca a Boca, Europroducciones and Hill Valley, which were part of Veralia production unit Vocento.

The combined group currently produces more than 1,000 hours of non-scripted and 350 hours of scripted content for national and regional channels in Spain. It will have more than 400 staff members in total.

iZen expects the merger to allow iZen Producciones to “more significantly acquire and create formats” in both scripted and unscripted as part of a plan to become a major international production player, and claims it will be the largest indie producer in Spain.

iZen also owns a stake in UK-based formats producer Chalkboard, which recently launched gameshow Don’t Ask Me on ITV.

José Velasco, executive president of iZen Producciones: “This agreement will allow us to create a new and bigger audiovisual production entity that will generate greater creative capacity and synergies.

“As independent producers we will be able to better serve the needs of our clients and international partners and invest together to create and produce the best content, as well as helping them to grow in this time of changes that are revolutionising the sector.

“We are delighted to be associated with Veralia, which owns the best brands in the history of television in our country. Vocento and other Veralia partners will contribute with their great experience in media and content”.

Iñaki Arechabaleta, business director at Vocento: “Veralia and Vocento are again opting for value-generating operations for shareholders, and under the leadership of renowned professionals in this case, José Velasco, Carlo Boserman and Sara Fernández-Velasco.”

Felipe Ortiz, Veralia and Tripictures shareholder: “From my experience in the international market I know how important being a leader in a country is to become the best potential partner for companies interested in creating hits out of their content. There is strength in numbers but even more in great people.”