BBC Studios is increasing its debt facility by £250M ($318M) — a move that closely follows the acquisition of BritBox International, its biggest ever single transaction.
The agreement with a consortium of commercial banks brings the debt facility to £600M, up from £250M in 2022, the Financial Times reported.
A plan to invest heavily in several areas such as family television will push down profitability this year, but will leave it well set to double revenues by 2027/28, as planned, BBC Studios CEO Tom Fussell told the FT.
BBC Studios has government permission to increase this to £750M by 2027 if needed. Last year, Fussell told Deadline that while the BBC’s commercial wing had not gone over its previous £350M borrowing limit, “we have plans in due course to do so.” On Friday, BBC Studios confirmed it had bought ITV out of their joint venture streamer BritBox International for £255M — a huge investment for the commercial arm of the UK’s public broadcaster, the BBC.
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