TV production company Endemol, which owns the rights to Big Brother, is to buy the Endemol France operation and merge back into a single group. The deal values Endemol France at €450m.

Endemol owner Telefonica separated off the French arm when it floated Endemol in 2005, regarding it as non-core.
Meanwhile, yesterday it emerged that John de Mol, who set up Endemol together with theatre impressario Joop van den Ende, has built up a stake of 5.15% in his old production house.