Kew Media Group enters administration as asset sale begins

Kew Media Group (KMG) has been placed into administration and its directors – including founders Peter Sussman and CEO Steven Silver – have left the company.

The company, whose future has been in doubt for several months, said that following the order by the Ontario Superior Court, FTI Consulting Canada Inc had been appointed as receiver.

It will now oversee all assets, undertakings and properties of Kew Media Group and Kew Media International (Canada), as well as UK-based subsidiaries Kew Media International Ltd, Kew Media Group UK and Kew Media Group UK Holdings.

Peter Sussman

FTI Consulting will seek to sell all remaining assets, with proceeds then being distributed to Kew’s creditors.

None of Kew’s production companies are subject to the receivership or UK administration.

Directors David Fleck, Maish Kagan, Patrice Merrin, Stephen Pincus, John Schmidt and Mark Segal have all departed, along with Sussman, who was chairman and co-founded the company with Silver in 2017.

Staff have also been laid off, with the company’s LA-based employees being told of their departures on Friday while international execs including global scripted boss Carrie Stein has also exited.

The future of the embattled producer and distributor has been in doubt since late last year, after it revealed shock third quarter results and the exit of its CFO Geoff Webb for financial irregularities. The company’s stock tumbled and it defaulted on its credit facility in December, as revealed by TBI.

The move into administration swiftly followed Its main creditor, Truist Bank, confirming last week that it had “accelerated the maturity date” for repaying debts owed.

Companies first started to look to exit the ailing group last year, as first reported by TBI, with firms such as Dance Moms producer Collins Avenue Entertainment being picked up by The Content Group, part of Steve Michael’s Asylum Entertainment Group.

Other deals have seen Glasgow-based producer Two Rivers Media buy out KMG’s stake after receiving support from Noble Grossart Investments and Channel 4’s Indie Growth Fund. Canadian producer Frantic Films became the latest company to buy itself out of the stricken group on Friday.

Frantic’s CEO Jamie Brown personally financed a deal to repurchase a 100% stake in the TV and film production company from Kew, which had acquired the prodco in March 2017.

Kew was launched by Sussman and Silver using an investment vehicle to acquire Content Media Corp and six other producers for a combined C$104m. It then added firms including TCB Media Rights, which is understood to be in the midst of extricating itself from KMG.