Shadowbox Studios, a premium operator of purpose-built soundstage facilities, today announced a strategic investment from Silver Lake, the global leader in technology investing. The investment includes a capital commitment of $500 million that will support Shadowbox’s growth strategy, including existing soundstage development projects in the Atlanta, London, and Los Angeles metro areas with over $1.5 billion of expected capital investment. Silver Lake will partner with existing investor Commonwealth Asset Management, which remains the majority shareholder.
Shadowbox develops, owns, and operates purpose-built, state-of-the-art soundstage facilities uniquely positioned to meet the needs of a growing industry of creative content producers. With this additional funding, Shadowbox will be able to expand on its established portfolio and scale its offerings to meet the increasing demand for premium soundstages across the globe.
“The combination of Shadowbox’s premier facilities in tier one production hubs and deep relationships across the production landscape allows the company to support the world’s top content producers as they grow their businesses,” said Lee Wittlinger, Managing Director at Silver Lake, who has joined Shadowbox’s board along with Silver Lake Director Chip Schroeder. “Consumer demand for premium film and TV content, coupled with the growing number of producers, has driven outsized demand for soundstage capacity. There is a long runway for the growth of the overall industry, and we are thrilled to partner with Shadowbox to expand the company’s service offerings and deliver premium soundstage facilities in the top global production markets.”
Shadowbox’s existing footprint consists of:
- Atlanta Metro Area: Shadowbox currently operates an 850,000 square foot studio facility with nine soundstages in Atlanta, GA that has been home to blockbuster features such as Jumanji: The Next Level, Jungle Cruise and Godzilla: King of the Monsters. The company is also developing an additional 1.2 million square foot space including 22 new soundstages. Upon completion of this expansion, Shadowbox’s footprint in Atlanta will total 31 soundstages and exceed two million square feet.
- London Metro Area: Shadowbox recently completed the initial 150,000 square foot phase of its nearly one million square foot Shinfield Studios project in the United Kingdom, which is fully leased to one of the world’s largest content creators. Following completion of the remaining development, the company will operate 18 stages in the London area.
- Los Angeles Metro Area: In addition, Shadowbox is currently developing a 19 soundstage, approximately 1.3 million square foot purpose-built studio campus in Santa Clarita, CA.
Upon completion of these development projects, Shadowbox will own and operate a portfolio of 68 soundstages and over 4.2 million square feet of leasable area, making it one of the largest operators in the sector. In addition to providing real estate services to its clients, Shadowbox also provides productions with lighting and grip rentals through its wholly owned subsidiary, Lamp Dock, as well as other key on-lot services.
“Supporting large-scale productions with best-in-class service is Shadowbox’s bread and butter. From the company’s roots as a single site operator, we have worked with local communities in the Atlanta, London, and Los Angeles areas to develop more spaces where content creators can express themselves while also providing hundreds of jobs to local markets,” said Adam Fisher, Founder and CEO of Commonwealth Asset Management and a Director of Shadowbox. “Our partnership with Silver Lake represents a major step forward for our Shadowbox platform, not only by providing significant growth capital for the business, but also by expanding our relationships in the entertainment and technology communities which are integral to Shadowbox’s future.”
To better align with its next phase of growth, the company has adopted new branding that embodies the values and creative vision driving the company.
“We chose Shadowbox to represent the company going forward as a symbol of both the physical and imagined spaces supported by our platform,” added Peter Rumbold, Commonwealth’s Head of Real Estate and Director of Shadowbox. “Our state-of-the-art facilities physically exist as ‘shadowboxes’ where our clients can execute their artistic endeavors. We’re pleased to offer some of the world’s top creative talent the space to bring characters and stories to life in premier soundstages backed by best-in-class production services.”
Deutsche Bank, EY and Sidley Austin represented Shadowbox on the transaction. Additional legal work was done by Farrer & Co. and King & Spalding. Latham & Watkins represented Silver Lake.
