Toronto’s Cinram Group sells disc manufacturing business to Technicolor

France’s Technicolor SA, a technology provider for the media and entertainment sectors, is buying the North American optical disc manufacturing and distribution assets from Toronto-based Cinram Group Inc., for between 35 million euros to 40 million euros in cash (US$38.4 million to US$43.8 million),

“The resulting expanded operational platform could also serve to support other new customer additions in North America, in a manner consistent with [Technicolor’s] strategy of optimizing the operating leverage of its packaged media products activities,” Paris-based Technicolor said in a statement. The deal could close as quickly as this month, the company said, and the new contracts could add more than US$208 million in revenue to the Technicolor’s Entertainment Services segment.

Founded in Montreal in 1969, Cinram manufactures audio cds, cd-rom, and pre-recorded audio and video cassette tapes. The company expanded over the decades, most notably purchasing the disc and DVD manufacturing operations of AOL Time Warner Inc. for US$1 billion in 2003. Recently, however, Cinram has struggled, as its business is being undercut by online streaming and popular services like Netflix.

Last year, the company moved its Canadian production operations out of Toronto, and shifted them to its facilities in Pennsylvania and Alabama. Cinram’s finance, marketing, and distribution operations remained in Toronto.