Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment, the acclaimed Hollywood producer behind Moonlight and The Big Short, has been purchased by France’s Mediawan in a uncommon transatlantic deal that values the US group at greater than $300mn in money and shares.

Pitt instructed the Financial Times that the Oscar-winning firm he co-founded within the early 2000s was “already bulging out of the seams of our little garage” and was able to broaden with the backing of Mediawan, a content material group backed by three of France’s most outstanding media buyers.

“We weren’t going to do this unless we found like-minded partners. We certainly feel that way with Mediawan,” Pitt mentioned. “We have always just concentrated on the craft, the art, the artisans, and the opportunity to be able to do that in a grander and more global way is exciting for us.”

Mediwan’s acquisition of some of the prized property in Hollywood’s unbiased manufacturing sector represents probably the most vital French dealmaking foray into Hollywood since Vivendi’s acquisition of Universal Studios in 2001.

The privately held Mediawan, whose titles embody Call My Agent and The Three Musketeers, was based in 2015 by the telecoms billionaire Xavier Niel, funding banker Matthieu Pigasse and tv government Pierre-Antoine Capton. It has grown quickly in Europe lately by snapping up small to mid-sized manufacturing homes in locations from Spain to Germany, and is now making its first foray into the US.

Chief government Pierre-Antoine Capton solid the deal as a strategic shift as Mediawan seeks to go international. “Plan B is the best independent producer in the US, so I wouldn’t have wanted anything else to help us grow,” he instructed the FT.

During a manufacturing growth when Hollywood has been awash with frothy takeover presents, Plan B has stood out as a much-envied asset with a constant report of constructing high-quality, award-winning movies, in addition to tv collection for Amazon and Netflix.

Three of its motion pictures — The Departed, 12 Years a Slave and Moonlight — received Oscars for Best Picture. Recent releases embody the Marilyn Monroe biopic Blonde for Netflix and the drama She Said on the autumn of Harvey Weinstein.

Asked whether or not the latest spate of high-valuation offers had satisfied him to promote, Pitt replied “yes and no”.

“I feel like the gold rush has stagnated to some extent. It has gone the other way,” he mentioned. “So many of those breathtaking deals still have to prove themselves. We wanted of course to be valued fairly. We felt Mediawan did that.”

Neither Plan B nor Mediawan would disclose particulars of the transaction. But individuals conversant in the matter instructed the FT that the deal valued Plan B in extra of $300mn, with Mediawan shopping for a majority stake within the group now and the remaining at a later stage.

The sellers can be paid half in shares of Mediawan and half in money. Mediawan’s current shareholders, which embody personal fairness group KKR and France’s BPI state-backed funding fund, will all participate in a capital enhance to keep away from dilution.

The deal construction means Pitt and his companions Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, who run Plan B every day, are incentivised to stay with the group since they are going to share in any worth creation.

The cost partially in shares helped reasonable the premium Mediawan paid for Plan B, which was valued at about 15 instances its annual underlying revenue of greater than $10mn, mentioned one of many individuals.

Capton acknowledged it was vital for Mediawan to not “jump in blindly” given the chequered historical past European buyers have had in Hollywood over the a long time. But he famous the rise of non-English language content material on streamers, together with exhibits comparable to Lupin, had opened new alternatives for European gamers.

“The key to the success of Mediawan is leaving all producers independent to do their work. Plan B has excellent results, they make the best movies . . . it is really working well without me!” he mentioned. “I’m not dreaming of having an office in a tower in Hollywood or to be some sort of mogul.”

Kleiner, who joined Plan B in 2003, mentioned there was “a cultural fit and understanding”.

“We do want to grow and we do want to make more stuff but we need to do it in an environment that preserves our DNA,” he mentioned. “Scale and quality is a challenging thing to manage and we like to think we have been decent at it in recent years.”

Like all unbiased film producers, Plan B has been grappling with a tougher marketplace for unbiased movies on the cinema. “Anyone looking at the box office this fall has to pay attention to what is happening,” mentioned Gardner, the primary lady to win two Oscars for Best Picture.

“We trained everyone to watch movies differently, from home, in order to get through the pandemic. It is natural that it will take some time for that to go back . . . I hope it will.”

Pitt performed down the prospects of Plan B making French-language motion pictures. While he owns a vineyard and château in Provence and has spoken French in some motion pictures, he confused that was because of the wonders of lip sync. “That required looping my friend,” he mentioned. “A lot of loops.”