Silver Trak COO Christian Christiansen.
Global provider of completion contracts Film Finances Inc. (FFI) has acquired local media management and facilities company Silver Trak Digital and its parent company Buff Dubs, which offers encoding, transcoding, media duplication and mastering services.
As per the announcement on the London Stock Exchange, the sale involved an initial $AUD1.65 million payment, which will be followed by five annual payments of four times 12.5 per cent of Buff Dub’s EBITDA.
Buff Dubs and Silver Trak’s management and directors will stay on to oversee operations.
FFI’s move into post-production and ancillary services is a recent one which it has stated is to meet the growing needs of its customers. The acquisition of Silver Trak/Buff Dubs follows purchases of Pivotal Post in February 2017 and EPS-Cineworks Digital Studios in November.
In a statement, CEO of FFI Holding Steven Ransohoff said: “2017 saw FFI make a concerted expansion as we broadened our business to serve the wider needs of our entertainment industry clients. As with our recent investment in Pivotal Post and EPS-Cineworks, Silver Trak and Buff Dubs bring valuable expertise and customer relationships to FFI. Their vendor relationships across consumer media platforms such as Netflix, Apple and Google are particularly exciting opportunities for FFI as we help our clients reach new audiences with their content.”
FFI’s head office is in LA, but it has 11 offices across the world, including Sydney. The local arm Film Finances Australasia has issued completion contracts on over 50 productions in the past year.
Silver Trak’s chief operating officer Christian Christiansen told IF that FFI first made an approach about an acquisition in March last year, and that part of the appeal of the sale from Buff Dubs/Silver Trak’s perspective was a chance for growth and new international opportunities.
“With FFI now being part of the business, there is a sense of international reach, a sense of being part of decisions that are being made overseas – directly or indirectly,” he said.
Christiansen said he expects FFI’s investment to also boost Buff Dub’s production arm, Buff Productions, and hopes it will also see more production and post-production work brought into Australia more broadly.