France / Tunisian producer Tarak Ben Ammar buys Luc Besson’s Paris studios

At the end of February Tarak Ben Ammar, the Tunisian head of Eagle Pictures France, bought the Studios de Paris. Ben Ammar got into the film business in the mid-1970’s and has since developed many international projects as a producer.

Logo Les Studios de Paris

At the end of February 2022 the EuropaCorp group announced in a press release that “EuropaCorp, and its partners Frontline and Euromedia, are selling their shares in Studios de Paris to Eagle Pictures France, a company controlled by Tarak Ben Ammar, long-time partner of the Studios de Paris.” With his company, Ben Ammar thus becomes sole share-holder of the Studios de Paris of which he was Managing Director. Prior to this takeover the shares were held by Luc Besson (9.9%), his production company EuropaCorp (40%), Euromedia (25.01%) and Tarak Ben Ammar (25%). The transaction is estimated at €33 million.

It comes after EuropaCorp’s prolonged financial difficulties in 2019 and 2020, when it was placed in receivership with a debt of €222 million.

Created by Luc Besson and operating since 2012, Studios de Paris has nine sound stages with a combined area of ​​9,725 m². They are part of the “Cité du Cinéma” complex,  described by the company as “Hollywood sur Seine”. For Luc Besson the studios were a way of competing with the largest international studios.

The Studios de Paris will soon host the filming of the new season of the Netflix series, Emily in Paris.

Sources :  Atlantico, BroadcastPro, Capital, France Info  

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