ITV to acquire The Voice creator Talpa Media for £355m

ITV will pay an initial cash consideration of £355m for the production and distribution business. Further payments will be dependent on its future performance but the maximum payment will total around £781m.

Company chief executive Adam Crozier said: "Great content is at the heart of ITV's growth strategy and the acquisition of Talpa builds on the success of our international content business and is absolutely in line with our desire to create and own formats that travel.

“John de Mol and his team have an incredible track record of doing that consistently over many years and I'm delighted to welcome them to the ITV family. This is a great opportunity for ITV to accelerate its progress in building a global content business of scale."

De Mol added: "Of all the potential partners for Talpa, there's no doubt ITV is the best fit. When it comes to the importance of content, the strategy of both successful companies is exactly the same and for Talpa this represents a fantastic opportunity for strong further growth. It also enables me personally to concentrate and focus even more on creating new, groundbreaking content."

Talpa generated revenue worth €233m in 2014 and delivered €61m in operating profits.

Some of the more famous television shows produced and distributed by the Netherlands-based company include The Voice, Dating in the Dark and Utopia.