Pinewood Group

Pinewood Group Limited

Type	Private limited company
Industry	Film Television
Founded	2001
Headquarters	Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom
Key people	Lord Grade of Yarmouth (Chairman) Ivan Dunleavy (Chief Executive)
Revenue	£64.06 million (2014)[1]
Operating income	£4.88 million (2014)[1]
Net income	£5.35 million (2014)[1]
Total assets	£155.57 million (at 31 December 2014)[1]
Total equity	£84.71 million (at 31 December 2014)[1]
Owner	Picture HoldCo Ltd.[2] (Aermont Capital) (65.19%) Aviva (14.14) Crystal Amber Fund (5.65%) Isle of Man Treasury (3.57%)
Subsidiaries	List Pinewood Studios Shepperton Studios Teddington Studios Pinewood Toronto Studios Pinewood Indomina Studios Pinewood Studio Berlin Pinewood Iskandar Malaysia Studios
Website	www.pinewoodgroup.com

Pinewood Group Limited (formerly Pinewood Shepperton plc) is a British multinational film studio and television studio company headquartered in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England. The group runs Pinewood Studios, Shepperton Studios in the UK and Pinewood Toronto Studios, Pinewood Indomina Studios, Pinewood Studio Berlin and Pinewood Iskandar Malaysia Studios in Canada, the Dominican Republic, Germany and Malaysia respectively.

To date over 1,500 productions have used facilities or services provided by Pinewood Group.

History

Formation and expansion

The Pinewood Studios Group was formed by merger of Pinewood and Shepperton Studios at the start of the new millennium. The company floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2004 as Pinewood Shepperton Plc.^[3][4] In 2005, Teddington Studios was purchased by the Group.^[5][6]

A period of rapid international expansion began in 2009 when The Pinewood Studios Group took over sales and marketing of what was then Filmport (now Pinewood Toronto Studios). Then within three months, three new ventures were announced, two being completely new studio complexes. The first was Pinewood Iskandar Malaysia Studios in partnership with Khazanah Nasional Berhad (the investment holding arm of the Government of Malaysia).^[7] Next came the announcement of Pinewood Studio Berlin. Then in February 2011 the company announced that it was planning to open a 35-acre film and television studio in the Dominican Republic.^[8][9]

Later in 2011, The Peel Group acquired a controlling 71% interest in the company for £96 million.^[10][11]

Project Pinewood

In November 2007, Pinewood announced a £200m expansion plan, known as Project Pinewood.^[12] When built the development will see replicas of streetscapes and zones replicating locations from the UK, Europe and the USA.^[13][14] Planned zones include a college campus, Amsterdam, modern European housing, Venice, Lake Como, Paris, an Amphitheatre, Prague, West coast American housing, warehousing and downtown New York sets, Chicago, Vienna, a castle, a UK canal, Chinatown and a London street market built.^[15] In addition it will also be used as residential housing, with the proposed creative community, expected to be in the region of 2000 and 2250, being integrated with the film locations. Job creation is also a key part of the plan, helping to boost the economy of both the region and the nation as a whole.^[15]

An application for planning permission was formally submitted in June 2009.^[16] However, the planning application was rejected by South Bucks District Council in October 2009, following a prolonged opposition campaign by local residents, who formed a "Stop Project Pinewood" group.^[17] Pinewood have since appealed the decision and a public inquiry commenced on 5 April 2011.^[18] In June 2014 Pinewood won its appeal and began developing the expansion.^[19]

Recent developments

In February 2015, the name of the company changed from Pinewood Shepperton plc to Pinewood Group plc.^[20]

In June 2015, The Peel Group reduced its stake in the company to 39%.^[21]

In February 2016, the group confirmed it was considering options for its business, including a possible sale.^[22] In July 2016, its two largest shareholders, Goodweather Investment Management owned by The Peel Group and Warren James Holdings agreed to sell their respective holdings to Aermont Capital.^[23] Pinewood agreed to the £323 million deal in August 2016, which would take the group private.^[24] The sale was completed on 4 October 2016, and the company delisted from the London Stock Exchange the following day.^[2]

Operations

United Kingdom

Pinewood Studios

The 007 Stage at Pinewood Studios in 2006, prior to rebuilding.

Pinewood Studios is probably most famous for its connection with the James Bond film series. It has also been the home for many productions over the years, large and the small. With a total of seventeen stages (including the 007 Stage, Underwater Stage and TV studios), Pinewood is the UK's largest and most prolific studio.

Shepperton Studios

Shepperton Studios is often described as the home for independent filmmaking in the UK but it has also been used for the production of a number of blockbuster films including Captain America: The First Avenger, which used eight of the fifteen stages at Shepperton.

Teddington Studios

Teddington Studios is a specialist television studio complex on the banks of the River Thames. It has eight television studios ranging from 383 sq ft to 8,891 sq ft. The first UK sitcom to be shot in high definition, The Green Green Grass was shot at Teddington Studios.

The studios closed in 2014.

Pinewood Films

In 2011, The Pinewood Studios Group created Pinewood Films to help fund and provide facilities to independent British films with budgets of approximately £2million. Pinewood Films would invest equity up to 20% per film with the intention to support four films each year.^[25]

The first film to receive funding is A Fantastic Fear of Everything starring Simon Pegg.^[26] The film was shot at Shepperton Studios.

Elsewhere

Pinewood Toronto Studios

Pinewood Toronto Studios

Pinewood Toronto Studios is a major film and television studio complex in Toronto. The 11-acre site has over 250,000 sq ft of production space, comprising eight stages including North America's largest purpose-built soundstage.^[27]

Pinewood Dominican Republic Studios

Pinewood Dominican Republic Studios is a state-of-the-art studio facility located in the southern coast of the Dominican Republic. It is operated with direct management and supervision from the Pinewood Studios Group. It is the most modern production facility in the region that offers full-service capabilities for film, TV, and related media content, including the largest and most advanced water filming facility in the world.^[28]

Pinewood Studio Berlin

Pinewood Studio Berlin is a partnership between The Pinewood Studios Group and Studio Hamburg. The joint venture provides film production services and first class film and TV stages (ranging from 6,481 sq ft to 25,900 sq ft) to European and international filmmakers, making it easier to take advantage of the benefits of filming in Germany.^[29]

Pinewood Iskandar Malaysia Studios

Opened in June 2014, Pinewood Iskandar Malaysia Studios includes 100,000 sq ft of film stages, 24,000 sq ft of TV studios as well as offices, workshops and post production facilities.^[30]

Pinewood Atlanta Studios

Located in Fayetteville, Georgia in south-southwestern metro Atlanta, this location is building phase two in 2015.^[31]

Los Angeles sales office

The Pinewood Studios Group has a U.S.-based sales office located at Sony Pictures Studio in Culver City, Los Angeles.

References

External links

• Official website
• Project Pinewood

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