Technicolor creative studios: End of stock market clap for Technicolor special effects

(BFM Bourse) – The special effects specialist resulting from the split from the Technicolor group will leave the Paris Stock Exchange on February 14.

A lackluster end clap for Technicolor Creative Studios (TCS), which will leave the Paris Stock Exchange on February 14. The company specializing in special effects is therefore preparing to turn its back on the Parisian stock market following a simplified public purchase offer (OPAS) which was open from December 14 to 29.

This operation, announced last October, took place without much difficulty. A large group of shareholders and lenders of TCS held 94.82% before the announcement of this simplified public tender offer, well above the required threshold of 90% of the capital and voting rights to ensure the success of this delisting.

To date, they now hold 97.31% of the capital of Technicolor Creative Studios to delist the company at a price of 1.63 euros per share. Shareholders who have not tendered their shares to this offer will be literally expropriated, subject to compensation net of costs, identical to the price of the simplified takeover bid.

At the beginning of January, the company requested the suspension of the listing of its stock, “until the implementation of the compulsory withdrawal” from the Paris Stock Exchange.

A failed split

This next listing therefore marks the end of a painful stock market journey for TCS, almost a year and a half after its separation from the historic activities of Technicolor, now called Vantiva, with a listing on the stock exchange.

This operation was intended to reduce debt from the rest of the Technicolor group, which had been restructuring for years. This split was also to express the value of its flagship visual effects business which has recently contributed to the “Transformers”, “Top Gun”, “Lion King” franchises and the “Game of Thrones” spin-off, “House of the Dragon”. TCS shares were then introduced at a price of 1.95 euros per share, corresponding to a valuation of more than one billion euros for the entire group.

However, this independence was fraught with pitfalls until the title sank into the stock market abyss. The company then decides to consolidate its shares in June 2023 to escape the unenviable penny stock status.

The collapse of the title is linked to the degraded situation of Technicolor Creative Studios. The strikes in Hollywood and the unfavorable macroeconomic environment have led to a reduction in activity and a decline in financial and operational performance for the first half of 2023. TCS even incurred more than 600 million euros in net debt at the end June 2023, according to the half-year results published last fall. The company even indicated that it had received an additional contribution of funds amounting to 30 million euros to meet its liquidity needs.

“The proposed delisting would allow Technicolor Creative Studios to focus on executing its long-term strategy and devote its resources to its operational objectives, including strengthening relationships with its current clients and developing new commercial opportunities”, TCS then indicated last October.

Technicolor Creative Studios will therefore be the first company to exit the Paris Stock Exchange in 2024. Last year, 31 companies turned their backs on the Paris stock market, that’s 6 more than in 2022, according to the 15th barometer of EY public offerings.

Sabrina Sadgui – ©2024 BFM Bourse