Harbottle & Lewis advise DCD Media on triple acquisition

Media and entertainment lawyers, Harbottle & Lewis, have advised DCD Media plc on three major acquisitions in the independent television sector. DCD has acquired Prospect Pictures Limited, September Holdings Limited and West Park Pictures Limited in a £19 million half-cash, half-share deal which is intended to cement the company's position as a leading independent producer and distributor in UK television.

Each of the businesses joining the DCD group is established in its field. Prospect Pictures is best know for its food shows including Saturday Cooks, September Films has produced programmes such as Beauty and the Geek and Hollywood Lives and factual specialist West Park Pictures has a long-term contract with Stephen Fry. The acquisitions mean that DCD will increase its presence across a wide variety of television including drama, arts, musical entertainment and documentaries and the company now hopes to be placed in the top ten UK independent producers.

The managing directors of each of the acquired companies will join the executive management board of DCD. Completion of the acquisition is expected to take place on 7 August 2007.

Corporate partner Tim Parker led the deal. He was assisted by Senior Associate, Rhys Llewellyn, and Lisa Pickering in Corporate, Emily Pritty in Employment and Louise Gordon in Tax.

Tim Parker, Corporate Partner said: "This was a great deal to be involved with in a key sector for the firm and the client. It was challenging to balance the individual demands of three acquisitions at once. The TV production sector remains very buoyant and we are delighted that DCD has made a considerable step up through these acquisitions."

For further information, please contact Tim Parker on 020 7667 5000 or email tim.parker@harbottle.com

[Ends]
27/07/07

Note for Editors

Harbottle & Lewis LLP
Harbottle & Lewis provides specialist advice to the media and entertainment industries. It is consistently recognised as a leading firm in these areas by independent sources.

Firm overview: The firm's work encompasses all areas of media and entertainment, including film, television, broadcasting, sport, music, publishing, advertising fashion and theatre and remains unique in having expertise right across these sectors.

We provide a complete range of commercial advice to our clients, including: buying and selling businesses and companies, joint ventures, finance, capital markets, commercial disputes, property, employment, immigration and tax. Other specialist legal areas include, sponsorship, intellectual property, legal issues relating to media, including defamation, advertising, brand protection, data protection, privacy, art and gaming and gambling as well as private client and matrimonial work. The firm's expertise in other areas such as aviation and charities is also widely recognised.

Much of our work involves the technology, new media and telecoms industries and we have done ground-breaking work in connection with the digital exploitation of content and e-commerce generally. Specialist knowledge and understanding of the entertainment industry and related IP issues enables the firm to identify and deal with the key issues at an early stage, and then negotiate and provide commercially sound legal advice from a position of strength.

Recent work:
In 2006/2007 we have advised on a number of significant deals including:

Sale of TV production companies Tiger Aspect to IMG Media and Ricochet to Shed Productions
Acquisitions of Done and Dusted by DCD media and Hed Kandi by Ministry of Sound
Virgin Active acquisition of Holmes Place
Financing and acquisitions of development houses by SCi/Eidos and Take 2
Acquisitions of Index Books by Penguin and Virgin Books by Random House

Other high-profile work includes:

Advising the Royal Household: HRH The Prince of Wales v. Mail on Sunday; all aspects of the staging and organisation of the Concert for Diana at Wembley Stadium; production, management and broadcast of the Queen's Children's Garden Party
Acting for Kate Moss on various matters including arrangements for her high-profile endorsement and merchandising arrangements with TopShop
Acting for a number of high profile individuals including Victoria Beckham, Steven Gerrard and Janet Street-Porter on various matters

Issued by: Caroline Renton, Marketing Communications Manager
E-mail: caroline.renton@harbottle.com
Telephone: 020 7667 5231