Wiedemann & Berg Film to complement independent media company

Wiedemann & Berg Film (W&B Film) is planned to become a part of the KKR backed independent media company. W&B Film will thereby complement the group of companies around Tele München Gruppe, Universum Film and i&u TV. Max Wiedemann’s and Quirin Berg’s “W&B Film” is among the leading film producers in Germany. Their first film “The Lives of Others” was awarded an Oscar for best foreign language film. W&B Film also produced titles such as “Men in the City”, “Friendship!”, “Vaterfreuden”, “Welcome to Germany”, “Who am I”, the two-time Oscar-nominated film “Never Look Away” and currently “Goldfish”.

Following the closing of all transactions, Tele München Gruppe, Universum Film, i&u TV and W&B Film are planned to form an independent German film studio that covers the production, licensing and distribution across the entire value chain.

Hengeler Mueller advises KKR on the transaction. The Hengeler Mueller team includes partners Sebastian Schneider (M&A/Corporate, Berlin), Maximilian Schiessl (M&A, Düsseldorf), Stefan Richter (M&A/Corporate), Albrecht Conrad (M&A/TMT) (both Berlin), Christian Schwandtner (M&A/Corporate), Carl-Philipp Eberlein (Capital Markets) (both Düsseldorf), Jan D. Bonhage (Public Law, Berlin), Thorsten Mäger (Antitrust, Düsseldorf), Martin Klein (Tax) and Hendrik Bockenheimer (Employment) (both Frankfurt), counsel Fabian Seip (TMT, Berlin) and Eckbert Müller (Employment, Frankfurt) as well as associates Jonas Brost, Alexander Bekier, Hermann Dahlitz, Marvin Vesper-Gräske, Tobias Begemann, Maike Hölty (all M&A, Berlin), Marius Marx, Maximilian Reischl (both Tax, Frankfurt), Anja Balitzki (Antitrust), Deniz Tschammler (both Düsseldorf) and Charlotte Riemann (Berlin) (both Public Law).