# Leonine Holding

Leonine Holding GmbH, also known as LEONINE Studios and formerly known Tele München Group, LLC (German: Tele München Gruppe; TMG), is a German media production and distribution company that is based in Munich.
The activities of Leonine include trade in licenses, investments in television and radio stations and distribution and production of television films and movies.

## History
### Tele München Group

The Tele München GmbH was founded on April 27, 1970, by author and producer Walter Ulbrich. It was purchased in 1977 by Herbert Kloiber and his business partner Fritz Buttenstedt. In 1980, the Concorde Filmverleih (Concorde film distribution) was founded and a year later, in 1981, the company acquired along with the cinema operator Hans-Joachim Flebbe several movie theaters in Hamburg, Berlin and Braunschweig.
TMG was partner at the television station Sat.1 in 1985; after a year, the company sold its shares and started the TV station musicbox. In the same year, TMG took over the Munich private radio station Radio Xanadu, which was later renamed to Radio Energy.
In 1987, Silvio Berlusconi’s company Fininvest acquired 50 percent of musicbox. This was the basis for the channel Tele 5. In 1988, Axel Springer Publishing House and CLT became partner at TMG. In 1989, 50 percent from the company were sold to Capital Cities / ABC.
1991 TMG sold its shares in Tele 5 to the Axel Springer Publishing House and in 1992 founded, together with CLT, Bertelsmann, Bauer Media Group and The Walt Disney Company, the TV channel RTL II. In 1995, the television station Tm3 was founded by TMG and the Bauer Media Group.
In 1996, Herbert Kloiber bought back the TMG shares from Capital Cities / ABC, and took over the shares of Bauer Media Group on Tm3. In 1997, TMG participated in the Hungarian private broadcaster TV2.
In 1998, Rupert Murdoch's company News Corporation took over 66 percent of Tm3 and two years later, in 2000, took over Tm3 completely.
On 28 April 2002, the channel Tele 5 was restarted by TMG. TMG launched a streaming service, Filmtastic, in 2017.
In July 2011, Tele München Group announced that they brought 33% in German independent television production company Odeon Film AG. By November of that same year Tele Manchester Group announced that they increased their stake in Odeon Film by acquiring 40% of the company becoming TMG's biggest shareholder in Odeon Film AG.

### Leonine Holdings

In February 2019, it was announced that New York-based American global investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) agreed to purchase Tele Munchen Group, with expected closing in April 2019. At closing, Fred Kogel's appointment as CEO would be effective. Four days later in that same month after KKR had acquired Tele Munchen Group, KKR expanded their German operations by announcing that they've agreed to purchase leading German film production and distribution Universum Film along with two SVOD channels from their local broadcasting company RTL Group and its German division Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland (now known as RTL Deutschland), with the intent to combine the two companies into a new German-based entertainment production and distribution company with Bernhard zu Castell continued to lead the acquired company as their CEO.
In late-March 2019 one month after Tele Munchen Group was brought by KKR, Tele Munchen Group had been expanded when their new parent company KKR announced that they've acquired Colonge-based German entertainment television production company i&u TV and had it placed under KKR's expanded German film and television production operations as they were intending to merge TMG and Universum into create a German independent film and television production powerhouse that will include i&u TV with i&u TV's founder & top television presenter Günther Jauch continued to run the acquired company. One month later in April of that same year, Tele Munchen Group had been further expanded when their parent company KKR announced that they've acquired Munich-based German film production company Wiedemann & Berg. Wiedemann & Berg would continue its TV arm, W&B Television, as a joint venture with Endemol Shine Germany. Founders Max Wiedemann and Quirin Berg would continue as managing directors of Wiedemann & Berg while adding the position of head of the group's feature film production division.
In September 2019, the enlarged Tele Munchen Group announced that they're rebounding themselves with a new name which was called Leonine by their parent company KKR with three main divisions: Distribution, Production, & Licensing. The distribution division, consisting of multiple Munich-based film distributors & a home video outlet, as well the company's stakes in RTL II & Tele 5, would be operating under the Leonine Distribution division name as of January 1, 2020. The production division, consisting of film & television production companies, would be grouped under the Leonine Production division, while continuing their separate identities. While under Leonine Distribution, RTL II, Tele 5, & the subscription video on demand services would continue under their current names. Leonine purchased Endemol Shine Group's share of Wiedemann & Berg Television.
In July 2020, Leonine Holding announced that it had sold its German free-to-air entertainment channel Tele 5 to American multinational mass media broadcasting company Discovery Inc. (now Warner Bros. Discovery) under their German division Discovery Deutschland to focus on its growing production and distribution activities, with Discovery signing a long-term licensing deal with Leonine for its scripted content. Two months later, Leonine Holding announced that it had sold its German free-to-air entertainment channel Tele5 to American multinational mass media broadcasting company Discovery Inc., under Discovery Inc.'s German division Discovery Deutschland with the channel becoming part of Discovery's German activities.
In December 2020, Leonine Holding and their division Leonine Studios had announced that they've acquired Munich-based German light entertainment television production company SEO Entertainment and become part of Leonine's expanded portfolio with SEO Entertainment remained their position as an independent company under Leonine Studios's division Leonine Production whilst SEO Entertainment's managing director Gillad Osterer had been remained the managing director of SEO Entertainment and was being reported to Leonine's CEO Fred Kogel.
In July 2021, Leonine Holding along with French audiovisual production and distribution company Mediawan announced a rebranding of their joint venture production division to Mediawan & Leonine Studios and announced it had acquired a majority stake in British drama production company Drama Republic, marking Leonine Holding's first entry into the British television market alongside Mediawan.
In March 2022, Leonine Studios had announced that they're restructuring their German-based unscripted television production label by rebranding Odeon Entertainment to Madame Zheng Production with the rebranded company hiring former RedSeven Entertainment executive and co-head of entertainment at Leonine Studios Tina Wagner along with former Red Arrow Studios producer and co-head of entertainment at Leonine Nina Etspüler taking over as leadership of the rebranded company.
In May 2022, Leonine Holding announced that their division Leonine Studios had acquired Berlin-based independent entertainment outfit Hyperbole Median becoming part of Leonine's production division, thrust expanding Leonine's film and television production state with Hyperbole Median remaining as an independent production company under Leonine.
In October 2022, Leonine Holding announced that they had brought a 25% minority stake in Munich-based children's animation production and distribution studio Toon2Tango and placed it under their Leonine Studios division, the acquisition marks the first time Leonine entered the animation production industry and had given their own animation subsidiary with Leonine Studios adding development and production of animation IPs to their distribution division.
Since October 2023, Leonine started distributing home media releases from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
On December 18, 2023, Leonine Holding along with its German production powerhouse division Leonine Studios had announced that they're launching an animation studio named Leonine Animation Studios GmbH and announcing that they've taken full control of Munich animation producer Toon2Tango and becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary of Leonine Animation Studios.
In March 2024, Leonine along with its division Leonine Studios announced that they've expanded its production division into the non-scripted genre and announced that they've launched a new documentaries production division named Leonine Documentaries with former Constantin Film executive Jochen Koestler became the president of the newly launched documentaries division.
In April 2024, it was announced that Mediawan, also backed by KKR, would acquire Leonine, in which it already held a 25% stake since 2020, in an all-stock deal for an undisclosed sum subject to approval from German authorities.

## Units

* Leonine Licensing

### Leonine Distribution

* TM Distribution
* TM International
* Concorde (Munich) film company
* Concorde Home Entertainment (Munich)
* Universum Film movie distribution (former division of UFA GmbH subsidiary of RTL Group)

#### Broadcasting

* RTL Zwei (Munich, 31.5%)
Leonine Holding formerly owned Tele 5 channel, which, since September 2020, is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery.

#### Subscription video on demand channels

* Filmtastic
* Home of Horror
* Arthouse CNM

### Leonine Production

* Clasart Film (Munich)
* Clasart Television
* Clasart Classic
* Odeon Film (85.23%)
** Odeon Fiction - fictional content for television, cinema and streaming platforms
* Madame Zheng Productions - reality entertainment, documentaries, and live broadcasts
* i&u TV (April 2019—)
* Mediawan & Leonine Studios (joint venture with Mediawan)
** Drama Republic (51%)
* SEO Entertainment
* Wiedemann & Berg Film Production (April 2019—)
** W&B Television

### Other interests

* Load Studios - digital media
* Storied Media Group, media project development and packaging