Squire Patton Boggs has advised Friend MTS, a leading global provider of video content security services, on an investment in the business by private equity firm NorthEdge.
The cross-office team advising Friend MTS was led by Corporate partners David Hull and Louise Barber, and included lawyers from the firm’s Birmingham, Leeds, London and Manchester offices.
Founded in 2000, and headquartered in Birmingham with offices in Europe and the US, Friend MTS provides content owners, broadcasters and operators with advanced security and platform protection solutions, including network threat intelligence, forensic watermarking and global media discovery optimised with automated content recognition.
Friend MTS’s Emmy® Award winning products have established it as one of the foremost content security providers to the global sports, media and entertainment industries, with long-term contracted revenues from blue-chip clients including Sky, UEFA, Serie A, Warner Bros Discovery, Rogers and United Group amongst many others, serviced by its unified global cybersecurity SaaS platform.
NorthEdge is backing Friend MTS’s talented leadership team, including Jonathan Friend, founder, and Mark Scotter, chief financial officer and head of corporate development. The investment will enable Friend MTS to meet the increasing requirements of content producers and delivery platforms worldwide, providing additional innovative services to both new and existing customers. It will also support the business to further invest in its people, increasing headcount in the commercial and technology engineering teams.
David Hull commented: “We are pleased to have acted for longstanding client Friend MTS on this investment, which will help the company continue to develop new service lines and support its plans for future growth.”