Sharon Harel, Jane Barclay and Hannah Leader have sold Capitol Films, responsible for hits such as Gosford Park and Death and the Maiden, to David Bergstein and Ronald Tutor. The business will be merged with the American duo’s company, Mobius Pictures.
Harel and Barclay set up Capitol in 1989 with £250,000 of loan capital. Harel was an independent producer when she met Barclay, who was in film sales. Leader, who had been their legal adviser, joined the business five years later.
Capitol has become one of Europe’s leading independent film companies, handling worldwide distribution of more than 100 films, most of which it has helped to finance. Titles in its library include Jeepers Creepers, Hoop Dreams, Ghost World and The Curse of the Jade Scorpion.
The sale price has not been disclosed but the three will become multi-millionaires as a result. They will continue to run Capitol from London.
Future projects include the first in what is expected to be a series based on the Alex Rider children’s spy novels. The movie version will star Mickey Rourke and Ewan McGregor.
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Barclay said that the time was right to sell the business. She said the fit with Mobius was “comfortable”, and “the only way that selling was appealing was to become a strategic part of a bigger picture”.
Capitol enjoyed a bumper year in 2005 with profits of about £4m, up from £1.3m the previous year.