ZM Capital Acquires Cast & Crew Entertainment Services

Cast & Crew Entertainment Services today announced that it has been acquired by an investor group led by ZM Capital, ZelnickMedia's private equity fund. The Company was previously owned by ABRY Partners. Terms of the transaction, which closed on December 24, 2012, were not disclosed.

Founded in 1976, Cast & Crew ("C&C" or the "Company") is one of the leading providers in the entertainment payroll industry for the motion picture, television, live entertainment and commercial markets. The Company's comprehensive suite of services includes entertainment payroll, production accounting software, procurement and purchasing services, residual payments, labor relations, production incentives and workers compensation insurance, all supported by 24/7 client services professionals. Cast & Crew is headquartered in Burbank, California and has field operations in New York, Albuquerque, Atlanta, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Detroit, Philadelphia and Wilmington. Canadian offices are located in Toronto and Vancouver. In addition, an office is scheduled to open in London later this year.

Cast & Crew's entire management team will continue to lead the Company.

"The ZelnickMedia team values and supports Cast & Crew's mission to provide the market-leading service and best-in-class products that have defined us for the last 37 years," said Eric Belcher, Cast & Crew's President and CEO. "We are thrilled to have a partner who will continue to champion our aggressive investments in technology, personnel and workflow processes with a proven track record of taking media and entertainment companies to the next level of success."

Strauss Zelnick, Managing Partner of ZelnickMedia, has a long-standing relationship with Eric Belcher, dating back to when they worked together at 20th Century Fox where Zelnick was President and COO.

"Cast & Crew has an exceptionally strong and experienced management team, industry-leading service and software, a culture characterized by entrepreneurial spirit and accelerating momentum-all critical to our investment decision," said Zelnick. "ZM has followed the Company's impressive growth and is committed to supporting the Company's investments in service and innovation for the benefit of customers, employees and other stakeholders."

ZelnickMedia seeks to combine the firm's sector expertise, management experience and investment acumen to make value and growth-driven investments in middle-market companies within the media and communications industries. The acquisition of Cast & Crew fits within ZelnickMedia's theme of investing in leading providers of mission-critical services within its sector focus.

ZelnickMedia's co-investors included VSS Structured Capital Fund and Ares Capital Corporation. Ares also provided the senior debt financing.

Lazard Middle Market acted as financial advisor and Kirkland & Ellis LLP acted as legal advisor to Cast & Crew. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP acted as legal advisor to ZM Capital.