Industry

Canada’s Blue Ant Media has acquired Drive Media Rights, the UK distributor and coproduction agency founded by Lilla Hurst and Ben Barrett. Blue Ant International, the distribution arm of the Canadian media group, has taken 100% ownership of Drive for an undisclosed sum.

The deal represents Blue Ant International’s ongoing expansion in the UK and the distributor’s commitment to growing its pre-sale capacity. As part of the deal, Drive’s founders and joint MDs, Ben Barrett and Lilla Hurst, will now join Blue Ant International as global head of content financing and partnerships and global head of acquisitions and partnerships respectively.

Barrett and Hurst will continue to operate from London and will report to Solange Attwood, exec VP of Blue Ant International.

The purchase price also includes Drive’s library of more than 900 hours of predominantly unscripted content ready for distribution. Drive’s roster of production clients includes October Films, Oxford Films, Blink Films, Air TV and Future Studios.

Drive was launched in 2013 as a production funding (pre-sale) house and evolved into a funding, sales and distribution business. Joining forces with Blue Ant International, it will continue to offer a range of commercial services, working with producers around the world to get their projects funded, produced and distributed.