Rainer Mockert has stepped down from the German private media fund MBP which he founded in 1999 and has handed over management of the MBP KG I and MBP KG II funds to financing expert Kai Grueneke.

Over the last seven years, Mockert had involved the MBP funds in the backing of around 30 international co-productions including Last Orders, A Christmas Carol, Taking Sides and Stingers with a fund volume of $120m (Euros 100m.)

Commenting on his new role, Grueneke admitted that the management of the MBP film funds is "a great challenge", but suggested that "the financed film rights offer chances for a successful reorganisation in the medium term."

Another of the MBP-financed films, the $25m CGI-animated family entertainment adventure film Mee Shee - The Water Giant, will be released by VCL/3Rosen in Germany this year and has already been invited to screen at the Tribeca Film Festival and the Youth Film Festival in Stockholm.

For the time being, Mockert will serve as a consultant to the two funds and MBP's new management. In 2002, Grueneke took on the management of the beleaguered Vif I film fund and coordinated its successful restructuring.