UK indie Tinopolis buys US indie A. Smith & Co

UK indie Tinopolis has bought its LA-based counterpart A. Smith & Co, the producer of The Swan and the US versions of Gordon Ramsay series Hell’s Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares.

Tinopolis, which is headquartered in Llanelli, Wales, paid a reported £60 million for the US producer. The UK company is backed by private equity firm Vitruvian and turns over £75 million. It already owns UK producers Mentorn, Sunset+Vine and Pioneer.

The UK company said that the US deal was part of its diversification and growth strategy and increases its access to the US sports and entertainment markets.

“Moving further into a US market hungry for UK formats in partnership with an established and successful entity like A. Smith & Co – with ideas and formats that have international potential – will further enhance opportunities for our distribution company, MINT, and is a massive strategic gain for the group,” said Tinopolis CEO Ron Jones.

Arthur Smith, CEO of A. Smith & Co commented: “We have been fortunate to have been approached by a number of entities offering strategic partnerships, but none until now presented the benefits and synergies that we have found in our new partners at Tinopolis and Vitruvian Partners. This new relationship allows us to expand aggressively while ensuring that we will have even more resources to continue to produce the high quality and successful content.”