Broadcast: Farah Ramzan Golant exits as All3Media sale finalised

Story from Broadcast now:

Discovery and Liberty Global have completed their acquisition of All3Media in a move that will result in the departure of chief executive Farah Ramzan Golant.

The international factual giant and the global cable company set up a joint venture in May to buy the super-indie for £550m and has now received regulatory approval for the deal.

All3Media, which operates 19 production companies across Europe and the United States, will remain an independently managed business and maintain its existing federal structure following the acquisition.

The hunt for a replacement for Ramzan Golant who was instrumental in the sale of the business, will begin immediately.

She joined All3Media from advertising agency AMV BBDO in November 2012.

All3’s chief operating officer Jane Turton has been promoted to managing director, while Neil Bright will continue as chief financial officer.

Meanwhile the super-indie’s co-founders Steve Morrison, Jules Burns and David Liddiment are retiring from the board of directors, although Morrison will continue to serve as a special adviser to the new owner’s board of directors.

Ramzan Golant said that having achieved her goal of selling the business to strategic owners it was the right time to pursue a “new challenge”.

“I know that All3Media is poised for a new period of great creative achievement,” she added.

“In my tenure at All3Media, it has been a pleasure to work with the talented people across the group who are making ground-breaking content that finds strong audiences around the world.”

Discovery Communications chief executive and president David Zaslav called the company a “production powerhouse”.

“We will focus on empowering All3Media to continue innovating and delivering even greater stand-out content to its client and partners across the globe,” he said.

Liberty Global chief executive Mikes Fries added: “The business, which produces content for some of our biggest markets in Europe, including the UK, Germany and the Netherlands, is a natural fit for us and our strategy for content. Discovery is the perfect partner too, as they not only commission All3Media content already, but also share our ambition to create compelling, localised content for domestic markets.”