alliance Atlantis Communications has formally announced its takeover of Edmonton’s Great North Communications.

For roughly $6 million and as part of its strategic plan to develop a fact-based/documentary division, aac has bought up the remaining 61% of shares it did not already own of doc-driven Great North.

As part of the agreement, Great North president Andy Thomson has been named executive vp of Alliance Atlantis Television Production, reporting directly to president Peter Sussman, in the Toronto office.

In his new role, Thomson is responsible for all of aac’s doc and non-fiction production.

‘Having known and worked with Alliance Atlantis for almost 20 years, it will be an exciting challenge and opportunity to work with them to build a world-class factual programming entity,’ states Thomson. ‘My experiences at Great North have convinced me that Canada should be a world leader in the factual programming area and the resources and expertise of Alliance Atlantis can now make this vision become a reality.’

Great North Productions will remain based in Edmonton, under the leadership of president Patricia Phillips, and will continue to focus on the production of factual programming, including tv series and doc specials.

Great North International, the company’s full-service marketing and distribution arm, will be folded into aac’s tv distribution unit, headquartered in Toronto.

The deal is expected to close by the end of July.

For the fiscal year ended April 30, Great North reported ebitda of $2.3 million on revenues of $17 million. Total assets at that time were reported as approximately $25 million.

At press time, aac.a shares had last traded July 14 on the tse, at $19 per share, while on July 19, aac.b was at $19.35. *