Ben Ammar's sweet Éclair deal
The French audiovisual industry is in shock after news that Tarak Ben Ammar – who already owns an 83% share in France’s Quinta Industries (LTC, Duran Duboi) – has acquired 43% of its main competitor, the Éclair Group.
The buyout, through Holland Coordinator Italia, was made possible after Philippe Dormoy, father of Bertrand Dormoy, left his posts of CEO of Éclair Laboratoires and vice-president of the Éclair Group in September 2005. "I became close to Mr Ben Ammar, who I’ve known since 1975, in order to ensure the longevity and the name of a group founded by my family in 1907, to which I remain much attached," said the seller.
After the LTC buyout in 2002 and that of Duran Duboi in late 2003 (see news), Ben Ammar – head of Technicolor at Quinta Industries – has now entered Éclair with force, even if control of the group remains in the hands of the ETMF2 investment group, who own a 55% share.
The Éclair Group (Éclair Laboratories and Télétota) has a presence on all audiovisual markets (features, shorts, television features, advertising, documentaries, magazines), from production to distribution (set rentals, photochemical processing and sorting, audiovisual post-production, print production and archive restoration).
Ben Ammar continues to meticulously build his empire, which to date stretches from Studios Imperium in Tunisia to two national television networks in Italy (Sport Italia and five-channel cable giant D.Free), as well as television and cinema production, distribution in French cinemas (Quinta Communications) and financial participation in the creation of The Weinstein Company.
He is also striving to create a pan-European film distribution network (see news).
(Translated from French)
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