Technicolor said today that it has acquired London-based VFX and content-creation studio The Mill for €259 million (about $292 million) from majority shareholder Equistone Partners Europe and management shareholders. The transaction closed today, with regulatory approvals already obtained, Technicolor said.

The purchase is Technicolor's latest in an industry-wide buying spree that has included, over the last 16 months, Toronto VFX house Mr. X, Paris-based animation producer OuiDo Productions, and Paris production, post and VFX facility Mikros Image. The Moving Picture Co. became part of Technicolor back in 2004, when the company (then Thomson) bought it from British broadcaster ITV.

The company said The Mill will give its Production Services division a more balanced portfolio by increasing its emphasis in the advertising industry, and will give it a better position in emerging technologies, including virtual reality. Currently, about 80 percent of division revenues come from film and television, with only 20 percent of revenues coming from advertising and games, Technicolor said. The acquisition of The Mill is expected to increase revenue from advertising to about 40 percent of the total.

Source: Forrester Research Digital Marketing Forecasts (U.S.); Technicolor presentation

Technicolor cited figures from Forrester Research indicating the U.S. digital advertising market is expected to overtake television advertising in 2016, reaching $103 billion in 2019. About $10 billion of that total will go to production.

The Mill will continue to operate under its own brand and management, Technicolor said.