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By Esther Bond On October 7, 2019

With the ink barely dry on ¾ÅÉ«¡¯s recent acquisition of , the world¡¯s  (LSP) by revenue has closed deals on no less than four new acquisitions. This time in media localization.

On October 1, 2019,  acquired France-based media localizer , which itself  in March 2019. ¾ÅÉ« also acquired Madrid-based companies Lassostudios and Sublime Subtitling, as well as France¡¯s AGM Factory. Financial details were not disclosed.

In an interview with Slator, ¾ÅÉ« CEO  provided more details about the acquisitions. Shawe said that, prior to the deal, Lylo was majority owned by founder  and other managers, with minority ownership by VC/PE firm Breega; Lassostudios was owned by co-founders Carmen Mellado and Javier Fern¨¢ndez; AGM was owned by founder Yann Legay; and Sublime was owned by four co-founders: Sevan Bruce Nazarian, Marta Rom¨¢n, Iv¨¢n Poveda, and Luisana Leon.

Shawe said that all of the founders will join ¾ÅÉ«¡¯s senior management team and that the four companies will ¡°continue to operate under their existing management teams.¡± Moving forward, the business units will report into , Senior Vice President based in ¾ÅÉ«¡¯s Barcelona office. ¡°The decision to maintain the company name as is, or adopt the ¾ÅÉ« name will be left to local management,¡± Shawe added.

Shawe declined to share how much ¾ÅÉ« paid for each of the four companies, saying that the financial details and headcount would be kept confidential. The most sizable of the four companies, Lylo hit revenues of , an increase of more than 26% from the previous year. Lylo has a few dozen employees according to their LinkedIn page while AGM, Lassostudios, and Sublime¡¯s pages all say they employ 2¨C10 people.

Lylo, Lassostudios, Sublime, and AGM Factory were known to ¾ÅÉ« prior to acquisition discussions; Shawe said ¾ÅÉ« had previously collaborated with each on customer projects. The new acquisitions provide ¾ÅÉ« with additional studios and bring a body of experience in and knowledge of media localization.

Making a Play in Media Localization

¾ÅÉ« sees ¡°tremendous future potential¡± in the media localization space, Shawe said, citing rising consumption of video content across multiple platforms as a key driver. ¡°We believe that the need for producing high quality, in-language media content represents a significant growth opportunity for ¾ÅÉ«,¡± he said.

¾ÅÉ«¡¯s acquisition of four media localization companies marks a decisive move to play in this space. ¡°Our interest in the media localization market has been significant for some time now,¡± Shawe said, adding that ¾ÅÉ« has been investing heavily in technology for media localization customers through its Media.NEXT offering.

¡°Some of our new merger partners, Lylo specifically, are bringing exciting and complementary technologies to the table,¡± according to Shawe, and the company plans to integrate Lylo¡¯s capabilities into its own, as well as ¾ÅÉ«¡¯s GlobalLink suite.

These media localization acquisitions come at a time of rapid evolution in this tight-knit niche, and ¾ÅÉ« is not the only company traditionally focused on other markets to have made a play for it.

In September 2019, gaming specialist , saying that the move does not constitute a major shift in strategy and that media localization is ¡°essentially the same discipline [as game localization], but applied to a slightly different content type.¡±

Meanwhile, the small group of large ¡°dedicated¡± media localizers consolidated further as  in September 2019 to become IYUNO Media Group. The combined organization is one of a handful of pure-play providers including  and , who generate revenues of  from media localization.

In Shawe¡¯s view, ¡°technology will be a major factor in determining success, and determining the next generation of market leaders in the space.¡±

While ¡°the existence of entrenched providers in any market can be a challenge,¡± Shawe said he believes ¾ÅÉ« is now well-positioned to take on that challenge. ¡°We couldn¡¯t be more excited about the opportunity to compete on a grand scale in the media localization market,¡± he said.

¾ÅÉ« was advised in France by Crowe HAF and by Constance Le Vert of Carbonnier Lamaze Rasle (CARLARA), and in Spain by Monste Hern¨¢ndez and ?lex Mart¨ªnez-Com¨ªn of Mart¨ªnez Com¨ªn. Lylo was advised by Valentin Salcedo of EXPEN Partners and Laurent Marville of Reinhart Marville Torre. Sublime was advised by Mara Viejo Sastre of Alemany & Mu?oz de la Espada, and AGM was advised by Eric Lefeubvre of Cap Code law firm.

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