British media conglom Cinesite has bought a majority stake in Mumbai-based animation and VFX studio Assemblage, which will continue to operate independently under the father-and-son leadership of founder AK Madhavan and CEO Arjun Madhavan.

The deal marks Cinesite’s first foray into Asia as it ​​continues an acquisition spree that has already seen it pick up Balkan VFX Studio FX3X (Detective Pikachu) and Canadian animation studios L’Atelier Animation (Fireheart) and Squeeze (Cracké) this year.  

Assemblage has built a robust portfolio of CG-animated kids content, doing service work on popular series like Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir (pictured) and Trollhunters. The decade-old studio is also growing its VFX footprint with recent credits such as Marvel Studios’ Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and the upcoming Matilda the Musical, which will launch on Netflix in the US this Christmas.

Next up, Assemblage is working on Method Animation’s The Three Musketeers (52 x 11 minutes) and the Moonbug/Disney series Morphle (52 x seven minutes), both of which are slated to launch in 2024.