Fox, Apollo Finalize Deal to Combine Endemol, Shine and Core Media

21st Century Fox and Apollo Global Management announced Wednesday that their joint venture bringing together Endemol, Shine and Core Media has been formally completed following regulatory approval.

The new joint venture will operate under the name Endemol Shine Group, with Fox and funds managed by Apollo affiliates each owning 50 percent. In announcing the deal finalization, Endemol Shine also revealed more details about executive appointments, joining CEO Sophie Turner Laing and president Tim Hincks.

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“The rationale for the name is equally simple. By combining Endemol and Shine in alphabetical order we’re launching with a strong identity that says who we are and which will be recognised across the industry,” Turner Laing said in a statement. “We will review this as we work together and the group evolves over the first year.”

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Endemol CFO Edwin van Es will take on the same role in the new group, with Shine’s finance director Tom Fussell working with Van Es on transitioning both companies’ finances before stepping down in 2015. Endemol’s former chief legal and business affairs officer, Boudewijn Beusmans, will take on the role of commercial officer at the combined company, overseeing distribution and legal affairs.

The joint venture’s co-CEOs of international operations will be Shine’s Northern Europe chairman Gary Carter and Endemol COO Martha Brass. Carter will oversee operations in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Nordics, the Netherlands, Belgium, Russia, Central and Eastern Europe, the MENA region, Turkey and South Africa. Brass will oversee operations in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Australia, India, China, South-East Asia, Latin America and Israel.

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Endemol Shine’s co-directors of marketing and communications will be Shine’s director of communications, Patrick Keegan, and Endemol’s global head of public relations, Charlie Gardner.

Shine International and Endemol Worldwide Distribution will join forces as one business, handling international sales and distribution, with Endemol Worldwide Distribution CEO Cathy Payne serving as CEO of the new division. Shine International CEO Nadine Nohr will work with Payne to bring the two distribution businesses together before stepping down.

The new group is still determining how best to bring together Endemol and Shine’s operations in markets where both currently operate, with France and Germany the first to complete this process.?

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“We are proud to be launching Endemol Shine Group with an exceptional line-up of talent in place from the outset,” Turner Laing said in a statement. “We can’t wait to hit the ground running in 2015 with a new group that will be home to some of the very best people and hit programming in the business; and which will deliver world-class content to platforms across the globe.”

Hincks added: “By bringing together these businesses and launching Endemol Shine Group we’re assembling a bigger, broader pool of creative minds from all corners of the world. We have a phenomenal roster of shows to build on and to have brilliant people in so many markets developing a new generation of hits is incredibly exciting.”

The joint venture will formally begin operating as Endemol Shine Group on Jan. 1 and will continue integrating its operations around the world throughout the first half of 2015.