ACF Investment Bank to handle sales of Wilbur Smith novel rights

Book rights to the works of British-South African novelist Wilbur Smith have gone on sale, with ACF Investment Bank hired by the author’s estate to handle the process.

Smith, who passed away in 2021, published more than 50 novels in the adventure and historical fiction genres, and was known for his depictions of Africa and its history.

He sold more than 140 million copies and generated worldwide sales of more than £1.6bn ($2bn), with several of his titles having been adapted for the screen before, including Wild Justice, Shout At The Devil and Dark Of The Sun.

ACF, which was behind the sale of The Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit IP to Embracer Group last year, said that Smith’s books are “great source of IP content and [have] significant financial potential to be adapted into multiple Hollywood blockbuster movies, long running TV shows, and popular children’s animations.”

Prior to Smith’s death, the author set up a ‘writers’ room’ to continue to “develop, adapt, replenish,and modernize his works. Twelve novels are scheduled for publication from 2023 through 2027, with an additional six completed novels and 10 outlines in a story vault, overseen by Smith before his death.

IP available for acquisition includes the Courtney series – a long-running family saga described as a “frontier, neo western set between the 17th and 20th centuries and described as being in the same vein as the Yellowstone franchise.

The Ballantyne series is a Scottish family saga, set in the 1840s at the end of the slave trade and the competing American and Portuguese interests on the Zambezi River, while the Ancient Egypt series includes a book series titled River God, said by ACF to be akin to Game Of Thrones, comprising eight novels, with a further four to be published.

“Wilbur Smith is a classic example of a prime library of rich IP that has a massive global following (over 1 million books a year). This could position an ambitious buyer with two decades of developed storytelling and intellectual property,” said Thomas Dey, CEO of ACF Investment Bank.

Earlier this week, Canadian Heavy Rescue: 401 producer Thunderbird Entertainment Group brought in ACF to explore “all options for growth” following its recent peace deal with shareholder Voss Capital.