Herbert L. Kloiber’s Night Train Media has acquired scripted distributor Eccho Rights from Korean giant CJ ENM, with Eccho Co-Founder Nicola Söderlund retiring.
The 40-staff Eccho, which has offices in Stockholm, Istanbul, London, Madrid and Seoul, will retain independence with Frederik af Malmborg continuing to act as CEO, while Night Train’s Kloiber becomes Chairman of the Eccho Rights board and the Night Train continues to co-finance with third party distributors. Handan Özkubat will continue as Eccho Director of Turkish Drama and digital operations, as will Adam Barth, Director of Co-Production, Development and Acquisitions.
CJ ENM, which recently bought 80% of Endeavor’s scripted content business, acquired Eccho four years ago and the distributor has since been a leader in Turkish, Scandinavian, South Korean and some European drama, shopping the likes of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Servant of the People, which has seen an uptick of sales since the war, along with Turkish Kanal 7’s Legacy and Paramount-owned Channel 5’s Compulsion.
Kloiber said he had been impressed by Eccho’s “growth, sales across the globe and strategic vision.”
“Combining our strengths could not come at a better time when even worldwide streamers are increasingly licensing content in selected territories,” he added.
Eccho’s Malmborg said the pair “share the same vision for the future of TV production and distribution.”
The move comes a year after Night Train, which is backed by private equity company Serafin Group, acquired a majority stake in TCB Media Rights Founder Paul Heaney’s non-scripted distribution company BossaNova.
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