Ottawa-based animation studio Amberwood Entertainment will produce two animated series with gap financing provided by the Royal Bank of Scotland.

It's the first time the RBS has arranged the financing for a Canadian company. The productions covered by the arrangement include 13 half-hour episodes of preschool series Katie And Orbie narrated by Canadian comic actor Leslie Nielsen and 26 half-hour episodes of Hoze Houndz.

Both projects, with a combined budget of approximately $8m, were commissioned by Canada's Family Channel. Production is underway in Ottawa with delivery slated for Autumn 2002.

London-based sales reps are handling the programmes at MIP-TV: TV-Loonland for Hoze Houndz and Entertainment Rights for Katie And Orbie.

According to a statement, discussions were initiated at MIP 2001 and closed in March of this year. The Lewis Horwitz Organization, a division of Southern Pacific Bank and the National Bank of Canada provided interim financing for the projects.