Herbert G. Kloiber, who was formerly the owner of German TV and film giant Tele München Group (now known as Leonine), and Constantin Film have set up Vienna-based production company High End Productions, which will produce premium European fiction series for the international market. Jonas Bauer has been appointed as managing director.
Bauer comes from Studiocanal, where he worked as head of acquisitions and co-productions from 2012 until 2020. He had been executive producer for Tandem Productions since 2005 and produced, coproduced and financed numerous projects there, such as Ken Follett’s “The Pillars of the Earth” and “Shadowplay.”
Kloiber began his career at German media company Kirch Group, and acquired Tele München Group in 1977, growing it into an independent media giant. In 2019 he sold the company to U.S. private equity giant KKR, which renamed it Leonine.
Kloiber said: “After 50 years of entrepreneurial activity I decided to take a two-year break. But there are still some exciting projects waiting for first-class production. Both bestselling novels and great historical figures have always fascinated me personally. I would like to realize these with one of the world’s foremost media companies.”
Martin Moszkowicz, Constantin Film’s CEO, and Oliver Berben, deputy CEO, said: “It is with great pride that we announce the cooperation between Constantin Film group and Dr. Herbert G. Kloiber – two of the greatest independent European players in film, streaming and television. In a time in which ideas and creativity are the gold nuggets of the entire entertainment industry, we want to give a home to many creative people in Europe in High End Productions in order to tell local stories with an international, European DNA all over the world. We have found the perfect head for the company in Jonas Bauer, with his instinct and experience.”
Bauer said: “Dr. Kloiber and Constantin are among Europe’s most successful producers. This mutual start-up, High End Productions, is a company that can leverage the entire know-how, contacts to the creative community and the international network of both shareholders to create exciting, international event productions for the television market. I am very much looking forward to this new task.”
The focus for High End Productions is to “create an environment for creatives that will enable them to tell ambitious stories with as few restrictions as possible. It is all too frequently the case that exciting projects are difficult to get going because of budget limitations,” according to a statement.