Wife Swap TV firm RDF finds new partner
RDF Media, the TV production firm which makes hit shows Wife Swap and Location, Location, Location was today sold to French-based media company Zodiak Entertainment for an undisclosed sum.
RDF chief executive David Frank, an ex-BBC business reporter who founded the firm in 1993, will become chief executive of Zodiak.
RDF floated on the stock market for £48 million in 2005 but management teamed up with Cyrte Investments, an investment vehicle backed by Big Brother TV mogul John de Mol, to take it private last year in a deal worth around £52million. RDF was memorably embroiled in the "Queen in a huff" scandal in 2007 when it wrongly edited footage to show the monarch walking out of a photo shoot.
Zodiak said the enlarged group will have annual sales exceeding €500 million (£417.3 million) in more than 20 countries.
De Agostini Group, an Italian family-owned conglomerate, created Zodiak in 2007 through a series of acquisitions. Under the terms of the RDF purchase, De Agostini holds 71% of Zodiak and the remaining 29% will be owned by Zodiak managers and Cyrte. Frank said: "In my opinion to succeed you need two things - brilliant creative executives and scale. This deal delivers both."
