Germany's Red Arrow targets U.S. shingle Fuse

BERLIN -- Munich-based Red Arrow Entertainment Group continues to expand in the U.S. with a planned majority acquisition in Mikkel Bondesen's Fuse Entertainment, producer of such series as USA Network's "Burn Notice" and AMC's "The Killing." Red Arrow said Bondesen, a native of Denmark, was familiar with both the European and U.S. markets, "an important prerequisite for the successful future partnership between Fuse and Red Arrow." The companies plan on developing and producing scripted formats from Europe for the U.S. market and vice versa. It's a strategy already employed by Fuse, which landed a hit with "The Killing," an adaptation of the hit Danish series "Forbrydelsen." "That's evidence of the potential of European and especially Scandinavian material," Red Arrow said. Established in 2005, Fuse has a first-look deal with Fox Television Studios. It also produced the now cancelled Fox action comedy "The Good Guys." In addition to Bondesen, Fuse exec team also includes partner and CEO Henrik Bastin. A renowned producer in his native Sweden, Bastin exec produced ABC's "My Generation," sold "Breakshot" to Fox and is exec producing "Koping/Happy Hearts" for A&E. Red Arrow managing director Jan Frouman said, "We know how difficult it is to compete in the American market as a producer of fictional programming. That's why we waited for the appropriate time -- and more importantly -- the right partner." Frouman added that the Fuse team's familiarity with both the U.S. and European markets gave the company a significant edge. "We are confident that our output of fictional programming will certainly increase by partnering with Fuse." Bondesen added that Fuse had long been looking for ways to realize even more projects in the future that work in both the U.S. and Europe. "The partnership with Red Arrow is the perfect opportunity." The move marks Red Arrow's second U.S. acquisition. Last year the company, a subsidiary of pan-European broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1, took a 51% stake in Santa Monica-based Kinetic Content. Already exhibiting the kind of synergies Red Arrow is aiming for, Kinetic produced the Betty White vehicle "Off Their Rockers," a show based on the Belgian hidden-camera comedy format that Red Arrow sold to NBC. Earlier this year Red Arrow's distrib arm SevenOne Intl. sold Dick de Rijk's gameshow "You Deserve It" to ABC with Kinetic also producing. Contact Ed Meza at staff@variety.com

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