Lionel Uzan is succeeding Pascal Breton as president of Federation Studios, the Paris-based producer and distributor behind the French spy series The Bureau (Le Bureau des légendes), as the investment firm Montefiore Investment takes majority control through a capital increase. The company announced the changes on Thursday 12 November. Breton becomes chairman of the supervisory board and, the company said, stays involved as a shareholder and producer.
The new money comes from the investor Breton wanted to replace. Federation said the capital increase would strengthen its equity and “significantly reduce” its debt, and that all of its longstanding financial and banking partners support the plan. It did not disclose the size of the raise, the level of debt or Montefiore’s new stake, and Deadline reported that the company declined to comment on the financials.
Key facts
- Leadership: Lionel Uzan becomes president; Pascal Breton becomes chairman of the supervisory board
- Ownership: Montefiore Investment, which held about 33% according to Deadline, becomes majority shareholder through a capital increase
- Clearance: France’s competition authority authorised Montefiore’s exclusive control of Federation on 29 October 2026, in a simplified phase 1 decision
- Strategy: the group will concentrate on its most promising markets and on scripted programming
- Undisclosed: the amount raised, the debt level, Montefiore’s final stake and the valuation
Cleared before it was announced
The change of control had already passed its regulatory test. France’s Autorité de la concurrence published decision 26-DCC-211 on 29 October, authorising Montefiore Investment to take exclusive control of Federation Studios. It was a phase 1 decision under the simplified procedure, the route the authority uses for deals unlikely to raise competition concerns. None of Thursday’s trade reports mentioned it.
The two documents describe the new ownership differently. Federation’s statement presents Montefiore as majority shareholder “alongside” the group’s other financial investors, which Deadline names as BNP Paribas and Bpifrance, France’s public investment bank. The authority’s decision names Montefiore alone as the company acquiring control.
A reversal on Montefiore
Montefiore first invested in Federation in 2021, putting in €50m ($55.6m at the 11 November exchange rate), according to Deadline. Last year Breton told the same outlet that the group had 55 in-house producers, wanted to double that within two to three years, and planned to “replace Montefiore and find a stronger partner for the future”. Management was then seeking hundreds of millions of euros and valued the business at €500m to €600m ($556m to $668m at the same rate). A year on, the existing investor has increased its hold, and the company is narrowing its focus rather than widening it.
Other parts of the group have already moved. Marco Chimenz stepped down as co-managing director earlier this year, leaving Uzan as sole managing director, C21Media reported, and last month the children’s producer David Michel bought back control of Cottonwood Media, maker of Find Me in Paris, from Federation, according to Deadline.
The new team
Uzan will run the group with an executive board of deputy managing director Éric Broet, chief productions officer Cosette Liebgott, chief operating officer Simona Rapino and chief legal officer Chiraz Zribi, according to C21Media. Accounts of his history differ. Federation’s own team page lists him as co-founder, and Variety says the handover ends 12 years of partnership between the two founders of a company launched in 2013. Deadline says Uzan joined in 2015. Before Federation he spent about 15 years at the film arm of the French broadcaster M6.
Federation counts more than 30 production companies across seven countries, Variety reported. Its labels include Federation Studio France, Bonne Pioche, Cheyenne Federation, Fabula Pictures and Federation Spain, alongside the sales arm Federation International. Its credits include The Bureau, which Showtime remade in the US as The Agency, with Breton among the executive producers, as well as Around the World in 80 Days, Bardot, Deadly Tropics and Sherlock & Daughter. It has offices in Paris, Berlin, Cologne, Los Angeles, London, Madrid, Rome and Tel Aviv.
The restructuring comes as buyers tighten. In the UK, ITV this week took £25m out of its fourth-quarter programme budget after advertising fell. In France, the state auditor has proposed capping the CNC’s earmarked taxes at €690m, €157m below this year’s forecast. Its French rival Mediawan, meanwhile, has new work in hand: its Odeon Fiction is co-producing Hamilton films and series for Prime Video.
Our reading
For broadcasters, streamers and co-producers, Federation becomes a narrower partner: scripted series, in fewer markets, under an owner that has chosen to put in more money rather than sell out. The ambition of recent years, big English-language projects such as A Tale of Two Cities and a growing family of labels, needed capital that no new partner supplied. How much room Uzan has will depend on two numbers the company has not given: the size of the raise and how far it cuts the debt.
Sources
- Autorité de la concurrence, Décision 26-DCC-211 du 29 octobre 2026 relative à la prise de contrôle exclusif de la société Federation Studios par la société Montefiore Investment
- Deadline, Lionel Uzan succeeding Pascal Breton as president of Federation Studios; Montefiore ups stake (12 November 2026)
- Variety, The Bureau producer Federation Studios moves to recapitalize as Lionel Uzan succeeds Pascal Breton as president (12 November 2026)
- C21Media, Lionel Uzan succeeds Pascal Breton as president of Federation Studios amid restructure (12 November 2026)
- Deadline, International Disruptors: Federation Entertainment's Pascal Breton and Lionel Uzan (June 2021)
- Federation Studios, team page (Lionel Uzan, co-founder and group general manager)
- European Central Bank, euro reference rate, 11 November 2026 (USD 1.1127)