On Wednesday the preamble to a new era for the major Scandinavian group Svensk Filmindustri was set with the announcement of its acquisition of the production powerhouse Tre Vänner and the replacement of its current CEO Rasmus Ramstad with Tre Vänner’s boss Jonas Fors (pictured) as of October 1st.

As part of the deal Bonnier-owned Svensk Filmindustri has taken control of 90% of the shares of Stockholm-based Tre Vänner, with the remaining 10% staying under the company’s ownership. Tre Vänner will also keep its own identity within Svensk alongside other strong brands such as Sonet Film. 

Since its creation in 1995 by scriptwriters Michael Hjorth, Johan Kindblom and Tomas Tivemark, Tre Vänner has grown into a solid film and television production house employing 26 people and offering locally-flavored content for an international audience. Its film franchise Easy Money (Snabba Cash) has been a major success both locally and internationally and the final installment Life Deluxe opened last weekend at number one in Sweden. Commenting on the deal with Svensk, the company’s Head of Film and producer of Easy Money Fredrik Wikström Nicastro said: “It feels fantastic and it will give us the perfect platform for Tre Vänner´s next step.”

At the helm of the venerable historical group Svensk, active in film/TV production, domestic and international distribution, the new CEO Fors will aim at producing and co-producing over 40 films per year. “Svensk’ is a well-known brand which is highly respected by the global film industry with a catalog of more than 1,200 films,” said Ulrika Saxon, Svensk Board Chair and CEO at Bonnier Growth Media. “To that we’re now adding Tre Vänner, a successful and very exciting production company with a network of creative minds and management with an indisputable track record. The ambition now, under the leadership of Jonas Fors, is to take the next step to realize Svensk Filmindustri’s full potential as a leading European film company.”

Current films at the Swedish Top 20 produced or co-produced by Svensk include the comedy It’s All About Friends (Hur manga kramar finns det I världen) by Lena Koppel and the musical film Shed No Tears (Känn ingen sorg) by Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein. Mainstream upcoming titles include the Swedish family film Jerry Maya’s Detective Agency and Danish feature and TV series 1864 by Ole Bornedal.

Tre Vänner’s recent releases include the romantic comedy Love & Lemons and Camilla Läckberg adaptation The Hidden Child. Upcoming titles include the family films Bamse and the City of Thieves (Christmas 2013 release), The Boy With the Golden Trousers by Ella Lemhagen (currently shooting) and the crime film The Indian Bride based on Norwegian author Karin Fossum’s best-seller, to be produced at 50/50 with Norway’s Motlys Film.

Four questions for Jonas Fors, newly appointed CEO at Svensk Filmindustri

How long have you been negotiating this deal with Svensk?
We have been in negotiations for a couple of months now and realised that we had a common vision and therefore decided to merge.

What will it mean for Tre Vänner in terms of personnel, logistics and overall production activities within Svensk?
For the time being everything will remain the same, but we will definitely grow organically and integrate the two companies’ savoir-faire. We will bring to Svensk what we’ve been developing at Tre Vänner: a vision for the international market. Our productions have been distributed in over 40 territories and we had been hiring more people in Scandinavia and looking into developing our international side as well. We will now be able to use SF experience and track record in Scandinavian and international distribution.

So far your films and TV series have been distributed domestically by Nordisk Film and TrustNordisk internationally. I guess now SF will handle all your productions…
Nordisk Film & TrustNordisk will continue to handle our current productions but obviously all our new projects will go through SF.

How do you feel about supervising production as well as distribution as CEO of Svensk?
I have over 20 years of experience, not only in film & TV production but also in distribution - via Panvision - and I worked in the music industry as well. What I see in Scandinavia is that the entire industry is becoming more integrated with the internationally market and our model is coming closer to the US studio system. You have to become more competitive to know how the market is shifting and to adapt.”