Boat Rocker Media Inc. has sold its stake in talent management company Untitled Entertainment LLC to TPG for approximately $51.6 million CAD.
Global investment firm TPG boasts entertainment investments including Calm, Creative Artists Agency (CAA), DirecTV, Entertainment Partners, Fandom, MusixMatch and Spotify. TPG’s new talent management company intends to acquire, invest in, and build a diversified global business centered on talent management, representation, and adjacent verticals.
As part of the transaction, Michel Pratte has been named CEO of the newly established company and Eric Taitz its COO, both effective immediately. Pratte has worked for Boat Rocker for over 15 years in various leadership roles while Taitz has also held a variety of roles at Boat Rocker since 2018.
Boat Rocker intends to use the cash proceeds from the transaction primarily to support its content-first strategy, increasing its focus on investing in owned IP, particularly in scripted television, premium documentary programming and animation.
“Collaborating with Untitled over the last five years has opened the door to strong partnerships and talent relationships,” said Boat Rocker’s Ivan Schneeberg and David Fortier. “This exciting new opportunity to carry on doing business with Untitled, as well as partner with world-class investor TPG, enables us to maintain our ties to the representation space while we focus on our core business: owned IP. Through our partnership with the company, we’re also delighted to continue working with Michel and Eric, two extremely capable individuals who possess a deep understanding of the talent management business. Given continued uncertainty in the market, we believe more strongly than ever that using our capital and corporate resources to maximize control over our destiny and provide the most flexibility in our IP strategy is the best path forward.”
TPG Growth is funding the investment. LionTree Advisors acted as financial advisor and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP and Stikeman Elliott LLP served as legal advisors to Boat Rocker on the transaction.
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