Entertainment One buys stake in Steven Spielberg’s Amblin

Shares in Entertainment One continued to claw back the losses it suffered earlier this month as it signed a wider and bigger distribution deal with the fourth incarnation of Steven Spielberg’s Dreamworks called Amblin Partners.

Spielberg has raised $800 million (£535 million) of fresh equity and debt from former ebay executive Jeff Skoll and India’s Reliance Entertainment run by Anil Ambani.

Entertainment One has taken a “small equity stake” in Amblin — named after the production firm behind ET and Jurassic Park — but has not said how big or how much it cost.

In return, its rights to distribute Dreamwork films to cinemas, on-demand suppliers such as Amazon and through DVDs, is extended from the UK and Benelux into Australia, New Zealand and Spain.

The new deal also adds licensing and merchandising of Dreamworks films and distribution of Amblin’s TV productions.