SETT unites Spain and South Africa in €25m audiovisual joint venture
With €1. 712bn to invest in the Spanish audiovisual industry by the end of August, Spain’s SETT has been approving numerous investment deals in recent months. Its latest sees a South African production company setting up two new operations in the Europ
With €1. 712bn to invest in the Spanish audiovisual industry by the end of August, Spain’s SETT has been approving numerous investment deals in recent months. Its latest sees a South African production company setting up two new operations in the European country. The Woman King is among Moonlighting Studios’ international production services creditsSpain’s audiovisual investment drive has taken its first steps into Africa, with the government’s Spanish Society for Technological Transformation (SETT) joining South African media group Known Associates Group (KAG) to launch two new production and post-production businesses in a €25m (US$28. 5m) public-private partnership. The deal, announced in Madrid by minister for digital transformation and public service Óscar López alongside KAG chief executive Tshepiso Chikapa-Phiri, represents South Africa’s largest investment to date in Spain’s creative industries. It will create Moonlighting Studios Spain, a Madrid-based production company, and The Refinery, which will open post-production studios in the Canary Islands and the Basque Country. SETT is putting €12. 7m into the two ventures as part of the Spain Audiovisual Hub Plan, the government’s ongoing scheme funded through the European Union’s Next Generation recovery funds. Moonlighting Studios Spain will receive a total capital injection of €18m, of which SETT is contributing €8. 8m, and will focus on project development and IP creation, with a slate of 10 feature films and documentaries. The Refinery’s Spanish operation carries a total investment of €8m, with SETT taking a 49% stake worth €3. 9m to fund the two post-production facilities. The private capital in both ventures comes from Sinobukhosi, a South African company led by entrepreneur Luleka Masinda with holdings across technology, resources and commercial intellectual property. Tshepiso Chikapa-PhiriMoonlighting Studios Spain is the Spanish subsidiary of South Africa’s Moonlighting Studios, which is part of KAG and whose production services credits include Mufasa, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Woman King, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning and the Resident Evil series. The company also works on socially driven projects focused on African realities, diversity and multiculturalism. The Refinery’s twin facilities in the Canary Islands and Basque Country will operate as an integrated post-production platform. According to the companies, the structure is designed to keep this activity in Spain and avoid outsourcing to other countries, while giving producers greater creative and financial control over projects carried out in Spain. Both businesses sit under KAG, which was founded by Tshepiso Chikapa-Phiri and is led by producer Joel Chikapa-Phiri, who has more than 30 years of industry experience. KAG operates across the full audiovisual value chain, from pre-production to exhibition, spanning marketing, distribution, financing and infrastructure. Its credits include uBettina Wethu, the South African adaptation of Ugly Betty produced via subsidiary Known Associates Entertainment, and upcoming Afro-futuristic sci-fi drama Ambre. “This agreement marks a turning point for our company and for South Africa,” says Tshepiso Chikapa-Phiri. “We are convinced that this investment in Spain will provide a strategic platform for developing Spanish content with international reach while strengthening ties between Spain and South Africa. ”She adds that the Spanish government’s support was key to the company’s decision to invest: “The opportunity was extremely attractive. It gave us confidence. ”Óscar LópezFor López, the agreement is further evidence that the wider Hub strategy is working. “The Spain Audiovisual Hub Plan was a great idea and it is proving to be a success. It is more than fulfilling one of its main objectives: attracting investment to Spain,” he says, pointing to two other recent government-backed arrivals: Mexico’s Ítaca Films and the UK’s Good Films. “It is an investment that delivers outstanding returns for the country. The audiovisual industry is not only an economic and employment driver; it is also a cultural asset. We are building a national project that is clearly worthwhile. ”The KAG deal lands weeks after SETT approved €39. 8m (US$46. 1m) in combined investment for those two international producers as part of the same second phase of the Hub plan. Ítaca Films received €20m to establish Ítaca Films Madrid, an internationally focused content studio built around a 10-year, €419m production plan covering 26 titles, with private capital from Grupo Ítaca and Grupo Omegas Capital. Founded in Mexico in 2010, Ítaca has produced more than 90 titles across 18 countries, with production services credits including Netflix’s The Night Agent and Apple TV’s Your Friends & Neighbors. Its Madrid expansion is expected to generate between 20 and 40 permanent direct jobs. Good Films, meanwhile, received €19. 8m to open Good Films Studios Spain at Ciudad de la Luz Studios in Alicante. Backed by Canadian and American investment vehicle Orogen, the UK company is projecting €215m of direct investment in Spain over its first five years, focused on mid- to high-budget independent film in the €17m to €25m range. KAG subsidiary Known Associates Entertainment produced uBettina WethuOther projects already backed under the plan include the Culture CAP7 fund (€44m), Moby Dick Film Capital (€4. 9m), Lazona Hub Audiovisual (€1. 1m), Aurora Media Inversiones (€98m) and animation studio Ánima Kitchent (€24. 9m). Aurora, launched by Secuoya Content Group with Société Générale and up to a 49% SETT stake, targets production companies with international reach, particularly those generating Spain-based shoots from France, the UK, Germany and the Netherlands. Secuoya executive chairman Raúl Berdonés described the fund’s launch as “a strategic milestone” that “reinforces our position as a driver of initiatives with the capacity to transform key sectors for Spain’s economic growth and international profile. ”The Hub plan, launched in 2021 and now worth €1. 712bn, must be fully deployed by SETT before August 31, 2026, a deadline that helps explain the pace of recent approvals. López says the programme has already mobilised more than €1. 6bn in Spain, and cited European Audiovisual Observatory figures showing Spain recorded 423 productions in 2025, a 31% rise on the previous year, overtaking Italy, the UK and France to become the EU’s leading audiovisual market and the world’s sixth-largest producer, behind India, Japan, South Korea, China and the US. Box office revenues have grown by more than 93% since 2021, the minister says, while employment in the sector has doubled to more than 64,000 professionals, with female employment up 81. 7% and one in three feature films now directed by women. “None of this has happened by chance,” López says. “Public support for the sector, streamlined visa procedures and tax incentives generate a return of €9 for every euro invested. ”