Interactive
BTI Studios Welcomes Altor Funds as New Majority Shareholders (SSN)
Story Highlights
BTI Studios Holding is to be acquired by Altor Fund IV from Carlyle European Technology Partners II. The sale and purchase agreement was signed on July 11, 2017. BTI Studios is one of the leading localization players globally, providing dubbing, subtitling and access services in over 50 languages. Clients are Video-on-Demand (“VoD”) platforms such as Netflix, Amazon and Hulu, major film studios such as NBC Universal, Warner, Disney and Fox, and broadcasters such as Discovery, Turner and Viacom.
Founded in 1995 in Sweden by CEO Björn Lifvergren, BTI Studios now owns and operates 21 facilities in 17 countries across Europe, Asia and the US. BTI has an extensive network with around 400 full-time employees and over 4000 freelancers. The management team including CEO and founder Björn Lifvergren will partner with Altor as co-investors and drive BTI Studios’ continued growth. “I look forward to embarking on the next growth phase together with Altor, further strengthening BTI Studios’ position as a leading global localization one-stop shop. Altor’s experience in growing world-class companies will be valuable for us to further enhance our strategic agenda”, says CEO and founder Björn Lifvergren.
For Altor, BTI Studios is an exciting investment in an attractive industry niche led by an impressive management team. The localization market is expected to continue to grow at double-digit rates p.a., driven by increased broadband and smartphone penetration, VoD players’ rapid internationalization and increased investments in original content to compete for viewers. In addition, new global players are entering the original-content space to strengthen their user ecosystems.
“BTI Studios is well positioned to continue to capture market growth and share. We are very impressed by BTI Studios’ strong performance track record, customer reputation and management team”, says Klas Johansson, Partner at Altor.
