Sven Ebeling and HagenBehring, co-chief executive officers of Media Cooperation One (MCOne), one ofGermany's largest independent video and DVD distributors, have completed amanagement buyout of the company.

Ebeling and Behring,co-founders and shareholders of MCOne, last month acquired the remainingmajority shares of the company previously owned by DBI, the equity division ofDeutsch Bank Group.

In the co-production arena,MCOne most notably co-financed and co-produced last year's Oscar winning bestforeign language film, Nowhere In Africa.

In addition, the companyco-financed and co-produced with Constantin Film and Summit Entertainment thehorror-thriller Wrong Turnstarring Eliza Dushku, which opened in the US last year through 20th CenturyFox.

MCOne recently completedproduction on its first full length animated feature, Nutcracker AndMouseking, an interpretation of ETAHoffman's classic nineteenth century Christmas story that was fully financedand co-produced with Los Angeles-based production outfit Sandstorm Films.

Sandstorm has been handlingthe worldwide sales of the picture at AFM. Nutcracker And Mouseking stars the vocal talents of Leslie Nielsen, FredWillard, Robert Hays and Eric Idle and was produced in Russia, Croatia, Germanyand London, with post-production handled in Los Angeles.

Worldwide distribution plansare currently being set with an anticipated holiday 2004 release.

MCOne has severalco-productions planned with Sandstorm over the next 18 months and will retainrights in German-speaking territories on those titles and take an equity stakein each picture.

Sandstorm is currently inproduction on Sniper 3 starringTom Berenger for Tristar Pictures and has produced a number of pictures withScreen Gems and Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment including The Forsaken and True Blue.

MCOne's core businessremains home entertainment distribution in Germany for such internationaldistributors as Lions Gate, Curb Entertainment, and Pandora, as well as manyother companies.

Additionally, the companyalso has a long standing distribution arrangement with German powerhousedistribution company Telepool, for whom it releases numerous video and DVDtitles in Germany.

MCOne releases approximatelythree to five German and American DVD and video titles per month in Germany,for both the rental and sell-through markets. Recent titles include MostlyMartha and The Musketeer and the next release will be the Hong Kong hit InfernalAffairs.

MCOne will shortly beginreleasing on DVD and video classic movies from the 20th Century Fox filmlibrary.