KKR-backed Mediawan writes Plan B Entertainment into script

• Plan B is a production company co-founded and led by Brad Pitt, along with co-presidents Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner
• KKR invested in Mediawan in 2020
• The partnership expands Mediawan beyond its core European market into the US

KKR and Atwater Capital-backed Mediawan, a European content studio, announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a “significant” stake in Plan B Entertainment.

Plan B is a film and television production company. Its film work includes The Tree of Life, Eat Pray Love, World War Z, 12 Years a Slave, Selma, The Big Short and Moonlight. The Los Angeles-based company is headed by Brad Pitt and co-presidents Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner.

Paris-based Mediawan is an independent European studio producing audio-visual content. The studio operates in “the entire value chain”: production of drama, unscripted, documentary, cinema and animated original content.

“Building leading businesses in this sector has long been a vision for KKR, with the take private of Mediawan as well as the founding of LEONINE Studios,” said Philipp Freise, Partner and co-head of European private equity at KKR and Franziska Kayser, managing director at KKR. “We are delighted to see Mediawan and Plan B join forces to continue our mission of creating the leading artist-centric global independent content platform, the first of its kind on such an international scale.”

KKR is a New York-based global investment company that manages multiple alternative asset classes.

Atwater Capital, headquartered in Los Angeles, focuses exclusively on the media and entertainment sectors.