Vuelta Group’s SquareOne acquires Germany’s Telepool from Will Smith’s Westbrook

Al Munteanu (Source: SquareOne)

European production and distribution firm Vuelta Group has acquired German content house Telepool from Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s Westbrook.

The deal was struck via Vuelta’ subsidiary SquareOne, the German film production and distribution company behind TV2 Denmark and ZDF thriller Oxen, which will merge with Munich-based licensing and distribution outfit Telepool.

The combined entity will operate under the SquareOne banner and will continue to be led by Al Munteanu, CEO of SquareOne and Vuelta Group Germany, alongside Michael Heyd as chief financial officer & chief operating officer. Current Telepool CEO Yoko Higuchi-Zitzmann will meanwhile leave the business.

“For over 60 years, Telepool has been one of the leading global content houses and we are proud of the work we did with the company,” said Westbrook CEO Kosaku Yada.

“We are grateful to Yoko Higuchi-Zitzmann for her leadership over the past two years. Her respect from the creative community has been instrumental in Telepool’s success.”

Yoko Higuchi-Zitzmann (Source: Telepool)

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, though the merger will see the newly combined SquareOne business boast a library consisting of more than 1,200 titles such as Drive, Intouchables, The Olympus Has Fallen and the recently released One Life.

The expanded company will be active across distribution and production, with Munteanu explaining: “the combined entity enables SquareOne to offer German speaking audiences a strong and varied slate of theatrical releases going forward, across multiple genres.”

Vuelta Group’s sales division Playtime said it will collaborate with Telepool´s talented international distribution business Global Screen, which has a catalogue including The Amazing Maurice and Luis And The Aliens, as well as dramas The Collini Case and The Conference, and School Of Magical Animals.

Munteanu added: “The integration of Telepool will increase our presence in Germany as a major player across all aspects of distribution and production”.