Atwater & KKR’s German Conglom Launch Local-Language Financier Library Pictures International With India’s RSVP & Lat Am’s Sun First Partners — Cannes

A consortium of media and entertainment investors led by Atwater Capital and KKR’s new German indie conglomerate are launching local-language production financier Library Pictures International, it was announced today in Cannes.

The idea is to invest in global filmmakers and distributors directly through local production slates. The label has signed multi-year slate financing deals with international production and distribution firms including Ronnie Screwvala’s RSVP Productions from India and Sun Distribution for Latin America and Spain. Additional partners will be known soon.

CAA’s Media Finance and Global Client Strategy groups architected the financing entity and negotiated the slate deals with the initial partners. Evolution Media Capital served as sole financial advisor. David Taghioff, who previously served as co-head of CAA’s Global Client Strategy group, will lead and operate Library from its Los Angeles headquarters.

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Library will aim to leverage each partner’s established marketing and distribution infrastructure, creating a global studio-style model. According to the partners, locally-produced films represent 40-90% of total box office grosses in markets experiencing strong growth, including India, Latin America and Spain. Certainly, the world has never seemed smaller and the demand for international local-language content has never been greater so the new outfit makes sense.

“At Library Pictures, we believe that talent is everywhere. There are exceptional artists to be discovered in emerging, local-language markets all over the world,” said Taghioff of Library. “Our funding model is designed as a commercial way to support these local-language artists and companies, bringing a greater diversity of stories to the screen.”

“We at Atwater are honored to be working with such accomplished partners as Sun and RSVP in our joint vision to support some of the most talented creators around the world to produce locally-relevant content, and we’re thankful to CAA who were instrumental in the vision behind Library,” added Vania Schlogel, Managing Partner, Atwater Capital.

“We are strong believers in independent local production and talent, combined with leading distribution capabilities. This is our DNA and what we are building in Germany, commented Fred Kogel, CEO of KKR’s new media company. “We are excited to be part of Library and team with Atwater and the selected local partners to further pursue this objective in fast-growing international markets.”

Ricardo Costianovsky and Tomás Darcyl’s Lat Am powerhouse Sun, part of the Telefilms Group, has previously distributed films include Hunger Games, Wolf Of Wall Street and Green Book. The firm’s THR3 Media, which is based in Mexico, Brazil-based Galeria, and The Magic Eye, are leading production companies in Lat Am.

RSVP is the latest production firm from Indian entrepreneur, philanthropist and businessman Ronnie Screwvala, who sold his UTV Group to Disney in 2012 for close to $1.4B.