Peace Arch Entertainment and 50/50 partner ContentFilm have spun off their North American home entertainment joint venture to a consortium led by Berry Meyerowitz.

Both Peace Arch and ContentFilm will give up their 50% stakes in Peace Arch Home Entertainment in return for Meyerowitz’s new company, Phase 4 Films, assuming $7.75 million of Peace Arch debt and a loan guarantee of $2.95 million. Meyerowitz was chief of home entertainment at Peace Arch.

ContentFilm emerges with a 22.5% stake in Phase 4 and Peace Arch with a smaller 8.8% holding to account for its debt swap.

Both companies will also avoid further cash calls to grow the joint venture as Meyerowitz buys out and rebrands Peace Arch’s home entertainment portfolio.

‘In place of a 50% stake in a U.S. joint venture with ongoing capital commitments, we now have a minority stake in a larger North American venture with no ongoing capital commitments,’ ContentFilm CEO John Schmidt said in a statement.

The Peace Arch Home Entertainment joint venture was formed last year after Peace Arch failed to acquire British distributor ContentFilm due to poor credit market conditions.

Peace Arch, which earlier exited in-house movie production, added the latest cost-cutting move enables it to focus on TV production and movie licensing, and strengthen its balance sheet.

Peace Arch in 2006 acquired Meyerowitz’s Canadian home entertainment distribution company kaBOOM! Entertainment for $8.5 million as part of an North American expansion.