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Content Partners has struck a new deal with Carlyle Global Credit to facilitate fresh investment capital for the company that has been a pioneer in buying out ownership stakes and profit participation rights in movies
and TV shows from individuals and production companies.
Investment giant Carlyle owns the majority of Los Angeles-based Content Partners, which is marking its 20th anniversary this year. The company was founded by William Morris Agency veterans Steven Kram and Steven Blume to help provide liquidity to people and companies that have ownership interests in movies, TV shows, recordings, books, plays and other IP that pays out consistent royalties.
Carlyle came into the picture for Content Partners in 2022 when it created the first financing vehicles for the company through the Carlyle Credit Opportunities Fund II. That was followed by another fund, and now Carlyle is closing out both of those vehicles, offering existing investors the chance to exit or roll their capital into the next fund that will support Content Partners. Carlyle at present owns the majority of Content Partners, although the founders also retain significant shares.
“We are pleased to have supported Content Partners’ success and look forward to continuing our partnership as the Company enters its next phase of growth with this new capital,” said Benjamin Fund, a partner at Carlyle. “Content Partners has built a differentiated platform focused on high-quality film and television assets. The portfolio is characterized by what we believe are long-duration, largely uncorrelated cash flows that we think are well positioned to continue benefiting from sustained demand for premium library content.”
Carlyle’s renewed commitment to fund Content Partners allows the latter firm more flexibility and options for buying titles and cutting deals. Since 2006, the company has acquired rights to more than 800 films and more than 3,000 hours of television, including the “CSI” series library and the Revolution Films vault.
“This keeps us in business with people we trust and gives us more capital behind us to continue our growth,” said Kram, who is co-founder and CEO of Content Partners. Blume is co-founder and chief operating officer while John Mass serves as president of the firm that today has a staff of about 15.
“What we see is that older content delivers cash flow that declines in predictable ways. We allow people to have liquidity based on those projections,” Kram said.
Content Partners was ahead of the curve in recognizing the demand for liquidity among content owners at a time when online distribution options for content libraries have multiplied. Turbulent times for Hollywood in recent years has spurred more owners of content to pursue liquidity options. Content Partners has also expanded to offering loans to production companies that can back put up their content libraries as collateral.
The lending activity is a growing part of the Content Partners’ portfolio, Mass said. It’s a fit with Carlyle Global Credit’s mission to provide debt and capital options to “family, founder and management-owned businesses, sponsor-backed companies and special situations,” per Carlyle Global Credit.
The Global Credit arm of Carlyle has $209 billion in assets under management as of March. In total, Carlyle oversees nearly half a trillion ($475 billion) in assets under management.
“There are a number of companies looking for a lending partner and a lot of the banks are not able to bank with them or they are looking for more leverage than a bank would provide them,” Mass said. “We’re a great partner for a situation like that. Steve [Kram] recognized the demand early.”
(Pictured: Steve Kram and John Mass)
