Big Law Players Land Roles on UK Entertainment Deals

Four U.S. firms have scored roles on two U.K.-based entertainment-related deals that have been announced this month.

Latham & Watkins and Covington & Burling have both scored roles on gaming platform Miniclip’s $1.2 billion acquisition to acquire puzzlegame offering Easybrain from another mobile game developer, Embracer Group AB.

Latham advised the Swiss mobile game publisher Miniclip, which has over the last few years moved away from its original browser game offering to tapping into the mobile phone game market.

London corporate partner Mike Turner, along with corporate partner Sam Newhouse led on the deal. Meanwhile there was also support from a cross-border set of partners including on antitrust matters from Brussels partner David Little, and on intellectual property matters by Los Angeles partner Ghaith Mahmood, a Latham statement said.

Meanwhile, Covington advised the Swedish-based developers, Embracer Group, on the sale of EasyBrain, a cross-word based game that offers users a new puzzle every day. The team was headed up by vice-chair of the firm’s corporate practice group, partner Gregor Frizzell, according to a statement from the firm.

Elsewhere in the entertainment world, U.S. private equity house Forttress is acquiring arthouse cinema company Curzon, securing the future of the cinema’s 16 locations including sites in Hoxton, Camden and the Bloomsbury, its film distribution company, an online streaming service and 350 jobs.

Curzon, first launched in 1934 with a cinema in 1934, has enjoyed notable successes in the past year, including the release of Kneecap, as well as Alice Rohrwacher’s latest offering, La Chimera.

However, pressure from landlords and an increasingly competitive entertainment industry has caused undue strain on the cinema’s finances. Fortress acquired the cinema group for a reported $5 million.

Reed Smith advised Fortress in the U.K. with partners Panos Katsambas, Ravi Pattani, Linton Bloomberg, and Caspar Fox all playing a role, according to a spokesperson for Reed Smith.

Meanwhile, a U.S-centred Kirkland & Ellis team advised Fortress in the U.S., according to a spokesperson for Curzon.

Kirkland did not respond to requests for comment at the time of publication.