A Canadian media company plans to grow its presence online while studying international markets to cater to more consumers after going public through a reverse takeover (RTO).
Toronto-based Blue Ant Media Corporation completed an RTO of Boat Rocker on Aug. 1 to acquire media brands Jam Filled Entertainment, Proper Television and Insight Productions while entering the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker BAMI without the need of providing an initial public offering (IPO).
“The internet has made it easier for people to watch what they want when they want. That’s pretty evident,” Michael MacMillan, Blue Ant’s chief executive officer, told BNN Bloomberg in a Tuesday interview. “It’s also meant that borders are blurring, and so it’s if you want to grow a business in this space, you need to have a pretty sharp eye on what the international market is. You need to have people on the ground, boots on the ground, full intel in America, in Europe, in Asia Pacific and you need to be able to figure out what that audience wants and deliver it to them. You need to have an international understanding.”
Blue Ant Corp. is the publicly traded parent company of Blue Ant Media, an international streamer, production studio and rights business. It has offices in Los Angeles, New York, Washington, London, Sydney, and Singapore.
“We like to think at Blue Ant that there is room for a Canadian flag waving, internationally focused, strong media company that’s based here, but absolutely serving that international market,” said MacMillan.
The company’s studio creates and distributes a slate of free and paid programming under several media brands including Love Nature, Cottage Life, Smithsonian Channel Canada, BBC Earth Canada, HauntTV, Homeful, Total Crime, Declassified and Love Pets.
Shareholders of Blue Ant were issued stocks of Boat Rocker after the deal was complete, as Blue Ant becomes the majority shareholder, with Boat Rocker retaining 26 per cent control of the company.
MacMillan said the move is important because it gives them access to permanent capital.
“At a time when the industry is going through some upheaval, being well capitalized with dry powder is a good thing,” said MacMillan.
“We’re getting asked, ‘what do you want to do, what are you going to do with that?’ And the answer is, obviously we’re working hard on M&A (mergers and acquisitions),” said MacMillan.
The media company reported on Monday that revenues increased by seven per cent as growth in global advertising offset a decline in production revenue during its third quarter. Results do not include business after the RTO closed.
