Night Train Media Buys Swedish Distributor Eccho Rights From Korea’s CJ ENM (EXCLUSIVE)

variety.com:

Manori Ravindran International EditorGerman investment and co-production outfit Night Train Media has fully acquired Swedish distributor Eccho Rights, buying Korean media group CJ ENM’s majority stake in the business in the process, Variety can reveal.The Stockholm-headquartered Eccho Rights is best known for a rich catalogue of Turkish content — which travels extremely well internationally — as well as Scandinavian, Western European and Korean programs.

CJ ENM bought a majority stake in the company in December 2018 as part of a drive to expand in Europe, but has now fully sold that stake into Night Train Media.The deal for Eccho comes almost exactly a year after Night Train Media, which is backed by private equity company Serafin Group, bought a majority stake in Paul Heaney’s London-based distribution outfit BossaNova.

It also comes amid a period of significant consolidation within global TV distribution, which recently saw Blue Ant Media take 100% ownership of U.K.-based distributor Drive Media Rights, and Abacus Media Rights owner Amcomri buy U.K.-Australian factual distributor Flame Media’s program assets for $2.4 million.

Eccho Rights will operate as an independent entity within the Night Train Media group, which was set up in early 2020. Eccho CEO Fredrik af Malmborg will continue to lead the company with a substantial shareholding in the business.