Florida-headquartered RIVA Studios is offering roughly US$3 million to acquire Paris-based TeamTO, as the court moves its decision on whether to accept the bid to December 6. 

A document filed with the Paris Commercial Court on November 18 sheds more light on RIVA’s proposal to acquire the Mighty Mike (pictured) producer. The total price RIVA is offering includes €2.615 million (US$2.75 million) for the purchase and an additional €320,000 (US$330,000) to cover government-mandated costs associated with paid leave and employees’ salary settlements. 

The companies aren’t allowed to speak about the deal until the court’s decision comes through, says Guillaume Hellouin, TeamTO’s president and CEO. The court was originally scheduled to rule on the bid on November 20, but bumped that date to December 6. 

The offer comes from RIVA co-founders Marco Balsamo and Tara Demren, Lex and Otis founder Jay Oliva and investor Peter Bekkerman. Bekkerman is putting up US$2.26 million (€2.15 million) to cover the company’s financing needs during the first two years of the takeover. RIVA’s bid is the sole offer remaining on the table for TeamTO after three others were made and then withdrawn. 

RIVA’s deal, which has been in the works for the past five months, is one that TeamTO executives favor, including Hellouin. The studios have worked together in the past, and the offer is aimed at keeping TeamTO going.

RIVA’s proposal says it intends to restructure TeamTO into three subsidiaries—a prodco, a service studio and an R&D tech team—and invest more than US$1.04 million (€1 million) in capital expenditure in the R&D division. 

However, RIVA would shed the company’s TeamTO Digital business and its American subsidiary TeamTO Corp, it revealed in the court document.  

If the deal goes through, the company’s three subsidiaries will be 100% owned by RIVA through an Italian production company incorporated in Rome. As laid out in the court proposal, under the financial rights of this new Italian company, Bekkerman would have an 80% stake, while Balsamo (who is an Italian national) and Oliva would each get 10%. However, Balsamo will have 65% of the voting rights and Oliva will have the other 35%. 

According to the proposal, TeamTO will continue to operate in France, including at its office in Valence. Some of the projects currently on TeamTO’s slate include season six of Angelo Rules, Jade Armor season two, and the animated series The Adventures of Amir Hamza and SKWAD!. It’s also developing a series aimed at older kid viewers called Junichiro Jackson with RIVA, Lex and Otis. Other Team TO productions in the works with RIVA include Akira’s Flying Wheelchair and Yellow Cello and the Sea of Memories. 

This story has been updated for clarity.