The family-run studio, part of the McLean Group of Companies, is now a part of Hackman Capital Partners
Author of the article: Joseph Ruttle – Vancouver Sun
Published Jul 03, 2023
One of B.C.’s biggest film studios has been sold to a major Los Angeles-based real estate and movie industry player. Vancouver Film Studios (VFS), part of the family owned McLean Group of Companies, is now owned by Hackman Capital Partners.
The studio constitutes 13 sound stages, construction mills and office space, and has been used for such major projects as Deadpool, The Flash, and Yellowjackets. VFS has worked with an array of film and TV studios including Disney, Warner Bros., 20th Century Studios, NBC Universal, Netflix, Apple and CBS.
Also sold in the transaction are McLean Group companies’ Pacific Backlot, which provides lighting, grip and production equipment, and Signal Systems, which offers communications services.
“Vancouver Film Studios has been a core company in our family business for 25 years and we are confident (Hackman Capital) will take what we have built to even greater heights,” said CEO Jason McLean in a news release. “Their expertise in the film industry combined with our exceptional team make for an ‘all-star cast’.”
In the transaction, VFS keeps its status as an independent studio with a network of support from Hackman Capital Partners.
“Within a burgeoning global production market, Vancouver Film Studios has a rare generational legacy, and we are thrilled to be its next steward,” said Hackman CEO Michael Hackman. “Not only is the facility purpose-built and state-of-the-art, but we are inheriting a management team that is among the best in the business.”
The McLean Group of Companies was launched in 1972 as a real estate investment and development firm, and is in its second generation as a family run operation now focused on film and TV production, telecommunications, construction and aviation, on top of its real estate projects.
Hackman Capital Partners is a privately held, vertically integrated real estate company and the world’s largest owner-operator of independent film studios.
It has 19 production campuses covering more than 10 million square feet in North America, the U.K. and Ireland. The company also owns Culver Studios and Television City Studios in L.A. and others in New York, New Orleans and London, England. One of its studios in the development stage is Basin Media in Toronto.
