Wildbrain Acquires Canadian Pre-Manufacturing Studio Home Of Cool

Wildbrain is buying full possession of Home of Cool for CAD$15.5 million (USD$11.4 million). From that whole, CAD$10.25 (USD$7.5 million) comes by way of the issuance of 4,479,406 Wildbrain shares, with the opposite CAD$5.25 million (USD$3.8 million) to be paid in money – much less any debt present on closing and topic to customary working capital changes and holdbacks. There’s additionally an earn-out of as much as CAD$6 million (USD$4.4 million) depending on the gathering of tax credit earned earlier than closing.
The transaction is anticipated to shut throughout Wildbrain’s fiscal 2023 fourth quarter, topic to circumstances to closing.
Home of Cool executives and co-founders Wes Lui and Ricardo Curtis will be a part of Wildbrain’s senior administration workforce within the newly created roles of co-general managers of Home of Cool. The duo will report back to Wildbrain president Josh Scherba, who heads up the Firm’s content material and studio enterprise.
Home of Cool is exclusive in that it is likely one of the few studios devoted to commissioned pre-production work for animated movies and sequence. Among the many firm’s high-profile sequence credit are Marvel’s What If…?, Disney’s Gravity Falls, Netflix’s Maya and the Three, and Apple TV+’s Pretzel and the Puppies. The corporate has additionally labored on blockbuster options together with Illumination’s Despicable Me, Sony Footage Animation’s Indignant Birds, twentieth Century Fox’s The Peanuts Film, and Blue Sky Studio’s Ice Age and Rio franchises.

Wes Lui, Josh Scherba, Ricardo Curtis — Wes Lui, Josh Scherba, and Ricardo Curtis

Wildbrain president Scherba stated in a launch:

This acquisition is an funding in inventive excellence. Home of Cool is acknowledged as one of many best possible pre-production firms within the world animation {industry}. We’re delighted to welcome Wes, Ricardo, and their workforce on board at Wildbrain, a mix of expertise that may instantly broaden and deepen our collective inventive strengths. Their experience is very complementary to our present enterprise, increasing and enhancing our pre-production capabilities, not just for Wildbrain’s proprietary content material but in addition for third-party tasks. The acquisition additionally establishes a brand new entry level for IP house owners to interact with Wildbrain’s 360-degree providing throughout manufacturing, distribution, and shopper merchandise licensing.

Lui added:

Home of Cool’s mission is easy: deliver audiences collectively by way of the clever telling of distinctive tales. Wildbrain shares our enthusiasm for storytelling, and from the second they first approached us, we have been ecstatic about combining forces and leveraging their 360-degree method and our experience in story and preproduction to develop, produce and distribute premium content material. We may also additional be capable of provide extra top-level inventive providers for all our purchasers.

And Curtis stated:

As a fiercely impartial operator for the final twenty years, it might require one thing particular for Home of Cool to affix one other studio. Wildbrain is that particular. Wildbrain has industry-leading experience in manufacturing, distribution, and licensing, and its attain on a number of platforms drastically expands our potential and scope to attach with audiences. Blended with their deep catalog of properties—many I grew up with—hitching Home of Cool’s wagon to Wildbrain permits us to collaborate in beforehand unavailable methods on the premium content material we’re identified for.