London-based DGP, the leading independent DVD production house in the UK, has been acquired by JHM Investments Ltd after a short period in administration. The deal sees DGP become part of the group that owns Rainbow Post, also based in London.

Hit by the downturn within the industry, DGP experienced financial difficulties and mounting creditor pressure. Established in 1995, the post house employed at some point up to 60 staff and generated a turnover in excess of £5 million per annum. Some two months ago, this tough environment has already lead to the collapse of Abbey Road Interactive.

The DGP team will continue to be based in its current Soho location and offer all current services. Julian Day and Mark Gardner, the original founders of DGP, will stay on at the new company as part of the senior management team.

It is expected that Rainbow will move into DGP’s premises in the next few months, as part of a consolidation that will also see technical upgrades and the building refurbished.

Commenting on the purchase, Julian Day, Director of Digital Services, said “Obviously it is a very tough market out there, so bringing Rainbow and DGP together makes for a much stronger offering to our clients. We now have all the post production tools necessary to deliver for our client base, as well as being able to expand our Blu-ray and VOD capabilities.”

Gareth Mullaney, CEO of JHM Investments and the new owner of DGP added “I’d been negotiating a deal for Rainbow for six months when the DGP opportunity came up. DGP has a brilliant reputation for DVD, Blu-ray, VOD and encoding while the other company specialises in long-form television. I think the two companies will compliment each other well”

DGP had made a first move into HD DVD and Blu-ray, Video on Demand, DVDi and 3G telephone encoding. DVD projects include "The Lord Of The Rings," "Rome," "Wedding Crashers," "Final Destination 3," "Blade Trinity," "Ricky Gervais’ Extras," "Family Guy," "The Sopranos," "Six Feet Under."

Story filed 16.03.09