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Glen Basner‘s FilmNation — celebrating its fifth anniversary this year — has secured $50 million in additional capital from longtime partners Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Union Bank.
The equity-backed credit facility will allow FilmNation to finance and produce an increasing number of movies. Last year, the production, financing and international sales company saw its slate of films, including Looper, take in more than $420 million at the worldwide box office.
The $50 million in new capital was facilitated by the longstanding relationship between FilmNation and Bank of America’s Brian Stearns, Daniel Timmons and Sharad Bhatt, as well as Union Bank’s Bryan LaCour, Anthony Beaudoin and Jason Feuerstein, each of whom have overseen many single picture deals between the company and Union Bank.
Most recently, FilmNation acquired the majority of worldwide rights to David Michôd’s The Rover starring Guy Pearce and Robert Pattinson, and is co-financing Nic Mathieu’s Story of Your Life with David Linde‘s Lava Bear Films. The revolving credit will also allow president of production Aaron Ryder and his team the ability to finance, produce and acquire a greater number of films and higher budget projects for the company’s slate.
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“As FilmNation evolves, we are committing a significant amount of our resources to content investment, and Bank of America and Union Bank’s support allows us to do that in an even greater way,” said Basner, founder and CEO of the company.
“This facility will further enable FilmNation to help filmmakers move their films from script to screen. While we are thrilled with the expeditious growth we have had in our short history, this facility and the investments we will make utilizing it are all about building a company for the long term,” he continued.
“FilmNation represents the next generation of top content creators,” said Stearns, who is co-head of Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Entertainment Industries Group based in Los Angeles. “We are pleased to have had the opportunity to arrange this innovative financing and look forward to doing even more with FilmNation.”
LaCour, manager of Union Bank’s entertainment finance unit, concurred: “This financing will provide FilmNation with the necessary resources to continue its growth strategy and expand its already proven content creation platform.”
The revolving facility was negotiated by FilmNation COO Milan Popelka and executive vice president of business and legal affairs Alison Cohen. The deal is planned to officially close within the next 30 days.
FilmNation has three films premiering at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival; JC Chandor’s All is Lost starring Robert Redford; Sofia Coppola’s The Bling Ring; and Alexander Payne’s Nebraska starring Bruce Dern and Will Forte.
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