By Hamish Mackay
BBC TV Newsnight presenter Kirsty Wark could pocket £2m-£3m if the
sale of Glasgow-based independent TV production company IWC Media goes
ahead as expected.
Industry sources are confident IWC Media will be taken over by
English independent RDF Media for £10m- £15m within the next few weeks.
The
two companies have worked together for more than a year, with RDF
contracting IWC to develop programme ideas in return for first refusal
rights over much of IWC’s output.
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A spokesman for IWC Media said:
“We can confirm we are in the early stages of discussions with RDF
Media, and that we will announce any developments as and when they
happen.”
Wark is a non-executive director of IWC Media – the
company formed bythe merger of Wark Clements and Ideal World, run by
Muriel Gray and her husband Hamish Barbour. Wark and her husband Alan
Clements were co-founders of Wark Clements.
Barbour and Clements
are expected to stay on at London-based RDF, which will retain the
management and name at IWC Media, with Sue Oriel continuing as managing
director.
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Gray is also reported to be selling her shares, which could earn her about £1.5m.
Accounts
for the year before the two Glasgow independents merged show that Wark
Clements lost £1.1m on sales of £12m, while Ideal World made profits of
£280,000 on sales of £9.1m.
RDF recently headhunted Stuart Murphy, controller of BBC Three, who will join in January as creative director.
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