Blue Ant buys RACAT to form natural history powerhouse

Toronto-based producer-distributor Blue Ant Media has announced the high-profile acquisition of international media organisation RACAT Group.

Included in the purchase are prestigious production houses NHNZ, Beach House Pictures and Northern Pictures.

Also included in the deal is international children’s nature broadcaster ZooMoo Networks and Runaway Play, a mobile game developer and publisher.

The RACAT businesses operate out of Singapore, Dunedin, Sydney, Beijing and Taipei.

“Blue Ant Media is an ambitious company, well positioned to significantly grow its content production, distribution and channel businesses internationally, notably in Asia Pacific which is why this acquisition is so important for our business,” said Michael MacMillan (right), co-founder and CEO, Blue Ant Media.

“I’ve known RACAT’s CEO, David Haslingden, for many years and he is a seasoned media executive with an impressive history in the industry spanning more than two decades. His expertise will be invaluable as we continue our worldwide expansion.”

Haslingden (left), based in Sydney, has become a significant shareholder and member of Blue Ant Media’s board of directors and will be a key member of the team devising the company’s growth strategy.

He said: “Our editorial focuses, product lines and territorial presences make us a perfect fit. While the RACAT businesses have achieved a lot in the last five years, there’s no doubt those achievements will be dwarfed by what we get done in the next five as part of Blue Ant Media.”

NHNZ, based in Dunedin (New Zealand) with an office in Beijing, has been in operation for 40 years and is one of the largest and most respected natural history and factual production houses in the world.

The production house’s highly anticipated blue chip series Big Pacific (5×60) (top), co-produced with partners PBS, CCTV, ZDF Enterprises, Discovery International, Channel 9 and ARTE, premiered in Cannes at MIPDOC in 2017.