Sodano's Eagle Eye on the Financial Markets.

Eagle Pictures is getting ready to hit the equity market on the Nuovo Mercato, the Milan, Italy, stock exchange for media and technology Companies. Eagle Pictures is the 14-year old company founded by brothers Ciro and Stefano Dammicco who, last year, called upon Giampaolo Sodano to take the film and TV production and distribution company to the next level.

Sodano is the former head of RAI2, Italy's state national network, and has also headed RaiTrade, RAI's distribution arm, and Canale 5, the flagship network of commercial TV operator Mediaset. Sodano is also credited with the creation of Cartoons on the Bay, an animation TV festival on the Amalfi coast (near Naples).

Because of the embargo placed by the Italian stock market regulator (Consob) on information released by a company prior to its initial public offering (IPO), Eagle Pictures officials would not comment for this story. However, from previous interviews and press accounts, one can speculate that Sodano has at least a four-level master plan.

The first step was to bring into the company B&S Electra, a financial institution now investing in the Italian Private Equity Funds III. In exchange for an 18.5 percent stake in Eagle Pictures, B&S infused the company with cash which was used to increase its production output.

Sodano's second step was to bring added managerial talent into the company. Today, Eagle Pictures' structure is composed of the 58-year-old Sodano as president, the 44-year-old Stefano Dammicco as CEO, the 52-year-old Ciro Dammicco as vice president and Simone Bencini (a former Universal executive) as CFO. In charge of theatrical distribution is Ernesto Grassi, another former Universal executive.

According to trade reports, Sodano's third strategic level is to increase production and quality program acquisition. In this respect, for the 2001 calendar year, Eagle Pictures has acquired 14 movies for theatrical distribution, including Rollerball directed by John McTiernan, Wedding Planner with Jennifer Lopez and Rules of Engagement with Tommy Lee Jones and Samuel Jackson.

On the production side, Eagle Pictures is co-producing Lazarus Child, The Cross and the Crescent and The Night Magic. All theatrical movies for the 2001-2002 theatrical season were co-produced with American and German companies.

On the television front, Eagle Pictures is producing five mini-series: Renaissance (an eight-hour product in partnership with Germany's Helkon Media) for RAI; Alex Race and Un Posto AII'Ombra (A Place in the Shade), two four-hour series in association with Mediaset; Almost America, a four-hour series shot in Canada; and Cities Villeneuve, a project about the famed Ferrari pilot who was originally from Canada.

According to newspaper reports, for the 2001-2002 TV season Eagle Pictures will produce a total of 18 made-for-TV movies in partnership with Spain's Telecinco, USA'S Cinetel Films, German's Helkon Media and Japan's Tsunami Productions.

Reportedly, Sodano's next step is to make Eagle Pictures one of Europe's largest production and distribution companies. In an interview given to Video Age Daily at MIP-TV 2000, Sodano stated that, with a program library of 1,200 tides (of which 90 percent is TV product and 10 percent theatrical movies), Eagle Pictures is already a European mini-major and certainly Italy's largest production entity. Video Age Daily reported that, in 1999, Eagle Pictures revenue was $25 million, 70 percent of which was generated from TV distribution and 30 percent from theatrical and home-video business.

During a press conference at MIPTV 2000, Sodano said that the strength of Eagle Pictures lies in the relationships that it has developed with more than 10 international powerhouses including Seven Arts, Citadel, Alliance Atlantis and, reportedly, Miramax. This is in addition to a long-standing relationship with Twentieth Century Fox for homevideo product.

According to a report published in Milano Finanza, the "global coordinator" of Eagle Pictures' IPO is Germany's Commerz Bank while the sponsor is Banca Commerciale Italiana. Once the IPO is executed, Eagle Pictures' main partners will see their shares diluted -- however, it is not yet known how many shares will be auctioned off According to a Video Age Daily story at MIP-TV, the Dammicco brothers control 52.4 percent of the company while 18.5 percent is held by B&S Electra, 7.9 percent is owned by Sodano and 21.2 percent is held by other investors. When Eagle Pictures is listed on the Nuovo Mercato, it will be Italy's third TV company to be quoted on the stock exchange after Mediaset and Mondo TV.