 Final logo used from 2006 to 2012 | |
| Formerly |
|
|---|---|
| Company type | Private |
| Industry |
|
| Founded | April 7, 1995; 30 years ago (1995-04-07) |
| Defunct | March 2012 (2012-03) |
| Fate | Split up, assets sold off |
| Successor | Sony Pictures Television Kids |
| Headquarters |
|
| Products | |
Number of employees | 150+ |
| Subsidiaries |
|
| Website | www.chorion.co.uk (archived 02/02/2011) |
| Footnotes / references [3] | |
Chorion Limited[3] was a multinational media production company with offices in London, New York, and Sydney. The company produced TV shows andfeature films, and was best known for its portfolio of entertainment brands. These included children's characters such asPaddington Bear,Peter Rabbit,Mr. Men,The Very Hungry Caterpillar,Olivia,[4]Gaspard and Lisa andNoddy. The company also owned the rights to theAgatha Christie Estate (including theMiss Marple andPoirot characters),Raymond Chandler,[5] andGeorges Simenon.
Chorion existed initially as a diversified entertainment company, with a portfolio of Intellectual Property (IP) rights, live entertainment venues and commercial real estate. From 2002 onwards, the business was refocused towards heritage IP Rights management and media production.
In 1994, the Burford Group purchased theLondon Trocadero entertainment complex inPiccadilly Circus,London for £94 million[6] Nick Leslau and Nigel Wray, the operators of the complex, branched off on their own and separated the Trocadero's operations as a stand-alone company in 1995, called Trocadero PLC.
In January 1996, Trocadero PLC acquired Darrell Waters Ltd., the holding company for the estate of children's authorEnid Blyton for £14.6 million. They soon formed a new subsidiary - Enid Blyton Ltd. to handle all intellectual properties, character brands, and media in Blyton's works.[7]However, with this addition for the complex, along with a major tenant in the form ofSegaWorld London, the company still failed to attract visitors. In 1997, John Conlan and Nick Tamblyn took over as the company's operators and re-structured Trocadero to focus on acquiring other intellectual properties and nightlife venues.[citation needed]
On 4 April 1998, Trocadero PLC was renamed as Chorion PLC, and under its new structure, both divisions of the company had expanded. The Bars & Nightclubs division acquired the London-based Oxygen, Zoo Bar/Venom, and Bar Madrid Nightclubs fromLuminar PLC[8] With their first nightclubs under their ownership, Chorion openedTiger Tiger nightclub on London'sHaymarket in late 1998. Tiger Tiger was the flagship of the company's nightclubs, with additional venues planned from 1999 onwards.[9]
For Chorion's IP division, the company's first step into becoming the media production company it ultimately became came in June 1998, when Chorion acquired the rights to theAgatha Christie literary estate,[10] with a vision of reviving the crime brand through new TV production and exporting the property to the United States, and soon afterward purchased the literary estate ofGeorges Simenon.
Despite the success of these nightclubs, it became increasingly clear that Chorion's business was made up of two very different divisions: a media production and rights ownership division, and an entertainment venue division. Analysts frequently cautioned that the company would not unlock its full value until these two businesses were demerged.[11][12]
In February 2000, Chorion sold its ownership of the loss-making Trocadero Centre back to its previous owner, Burford Holdings. Later that year, in May 2000, the management announced during an Annual General Meeting their intention to demerge the nightclub and venue business from the media business.[13]
In March 2001, the split of the entertainment division was delayed.[14] By April 2001, Chorion's nightclub and venue division included nine London-based clubs, and three Tiger Tiger venues in London, Manchester and Birmingham, with additional branches in Portsmouth, Croydon and Leeds following on later in the year.[15] and continued to purchase more venues.[16]
On 17 May 2002, Chorion officially demerged its nightclub and venue division as a separately-operated public company named Urbium PLC.[17][18] New Chorion PLC, which was formed to take over the IP division, effectively became the new Chorion PLC and was renamed as such within the same month.[19] With the company focused solely on media production, Chorion began a period of expansion driven by the acquisition of new literary properties and the development of new TV and film properties to unlock their value. The first steps in this new direction included a series of management changes that placed experienced executives from the world of television at the helm of the company. At the end of the month, the company purchased the literacy estate ofNicolas Freeling.[20]
On 4 December 2002, Chief Executive Nick Tamblyn announced his immediate resignation.[21]Waheed Alli joined the company as a Non-Executive Deputy Chairman.[22] Just a few months later, in April 2003, he stepped up to the position of chairman.[23] The company put up its children's assets for sale in November 2002[24] but ultimately decided to keep them.
During this period, Chorion produced various new TV productions. In May 2002, the UK'sChannel Five announced that it had commissioned 100 episodes of a new animated television series based on Enid Blyton'sNoddy,[25] with the showMake Way For Noddy having its premiere airing in September of that year.[26] In November 2002, the company announced a four-year deal with major UK television networkITV to produce a fewfeature-length TV dramas based on the Agatha Christie novels.[27] These began to broadcast on-air at the end of 2003.[28] During this period, development and production also began on an animated TV series based onThe Famous Five[29] in collaboration withDisney Channel in France.[30] The range of newly developed TV shows began to expand internationally, with Noddy becoming the most recognised children's character in France in 2003 and sold to the Chinese market in 2004,[31] and airing in the US onPBS Kids in 2005.[32]
As well as the commission and launch of various new TV productions, the period immediately following Waheed Alli's elevation to the Chairmanship was marked by a series of high-profile acquisitions of new properties. In April 2004, after several months of negotiations,[33] Chorion acquired the distribution rights to theRoger HargreavesMr. Men series for £28 million.[34] This acquisition was followed up in May 2005 with total ownership of the Hargreaves estate and the rights to produce new TV series.
In July 2005, Chorion made a major step towards becoming an international business when it bought UK-based[35]Silver Lining Productions.[36] Along with an office in New York City,[37] this acquisition gave Chorion ownership of the media and merchandise rights toThe Very Hungry Caterpillar byEric Carle,Olivia byIan Falconer, andMax & Ruby andTimothy Goes To School, both byRosemary Wells.
In early 2006, Alli led amanagement buyout of the company[38] backed byprivate equity firm3i Group Plc.[39] In May 2006, this process was completed when Chorion delisted from theAIM exchange to become a private limited company.[40][41]
Waheed Alli served as chief executive officer and Executive Chairman, and pursued a strategy of developing and launching one new children's property every year.[42] This development strategy included the launch of a new series ofNoddy in 2007, an animated version of theMr. Men in 2008, the US launch ofOlivia in 2009, the British launch ofThe Octonauts in 2010,Gaspard and Lisa in 2011 and a new animated version of Beatrix Potter'sPeter Rabbit in 2012. This production was a joint venture with US broadcasterNickelodeon and British publisherFrederick Warne & Co, part of the Penguin Group.
The launch ofThe Octonauts represented a big hit for the company, achieving on-air ratings for the show as number one in the key demographic of boys aged 4 to 6.[43] Chorion announced in 2010 that they had signed international toy makersFisher Price as the master toy partner for the brand, with a full toy line launching in the UK in August 2011.[44]
The development of a new animated series ofPeter Rabbit was made possible by Chorion's acquisition in November 2007 of the Copyrights Group, a competing intellectual property management company who managed the licensing and merchandising rights to theBeatrix Potter characters, owned by Frederick Warne, part of the Penguin Group. The company also owned the rights toPaddington Bear and theFlower Fairies, and managedSpot the Dog byEric Hill,The Snowman byRaymond Briggs, and theHorrible Histories book series byTerry Deary.
On 24 August 2011, chairman and CEO Waheed Alli along with Deputy Chairman William Astor announced to the company that they would be resigning their positions[45] following the failure of the company's lenders to reach an agreement to restructure Chorion's debt burdens.[46] Shortly thereafter, private equity owners3i began a process to sell Chorion's assets:
