The Pinewood Group has acquired full ownership of Pinewood Toronto Studios as Bell Media sells its majority stake.

The U.K.-based studio operator announced the sale on Wednesday (May 3). Pinewood Group has been a sales and marketing partner for the Toronto studio since 2009.

The studio is valued at $445 million, according to Pinewood Group in an update to investors. The acquisition was partially funded by a $175 million loan, and the balance of the purchase price was funded down by equity from Pinewood’s parentco PGV SCSp and approximately GBP$35 million (about $59.3 million) from Pinewood’s existing cash resources.

Parentco Bell Canada Enterprises said in its Q1 2023 financial report on Thursday (May 4) that it completed the sale of its 63% majority stake in the studio to “focus on its core services for residential and business customers.”

Bell will use the cash proceeds from the sale to acquire Montreal-based IT company FX Innovation, in a deal expected to close in late Q2 or early Q3. The company provides cloud and workflow automation services, and will help position Bell “as a tech services leader for its enterprise customers,” according to a news release.

Bell Media acquired a majority stake in Pinewood Toronto Studios in 2018 in partnership with Paul Bronfman’s Comweb Studio Holdings, property developer Castlepoint and the City of Toronto. Castlepoint sold its remaining shares of Pinewood to Bell Media in 2020.

“Bell Media has an existing relationship with Pinewood Studios Group and we’ll continue that relationship going forward,” said a spokesperson for Bell Media in a statement to Playback Daily.

Bronfman, chairman and founding shareholder of Pinewood Toronto Studios, said he is “thrilled” at the acquisition and will “look forward to this new opportunity for the City of Toronto,” in a statement.

An expansion of the studio space was completed last year, bringing it to 490,000 square feet of production space, along with 16 purpose-built soundstages.

Pinewood has agreed to create a “city-building fund with a significant investment” as part of the deal, according to CreateTO CEO Vic Gupta in a statement. The investment will “further support the development of the sector in the Port Lands,” he said. Further details on the fund will be determined at a later date, said a spokesperson for CreateTO.

Pinewood Group chairman Paul Golding said the company will “continue to invest in the studio and the surrounding Port Lands” with the intent to “work closely with the City to support Toronto’s thriving film and TV industry and all those who work in it.”

The acquisition follows a record year for production in Ontario, which attracted $3.15 billion in production spend across domestic and service production in 2022.

“Film and television production in Toronto has seen massive growth,” said Marguerite Pigott, Toronto film commissioner and director of entertainment industries for the City of Toronto. “The acquisition by Pinewood Group is an exciting demonstration of Toronto’s global appeal and a strong indicator of continued robust growth well into the future.”

Updated May 5