NEW YORK (The Deal) -- The U.K.'s ITV has secured a €500 million-plus ($531 million) deal with entrepreneur John de Mol to buy Talpa Media, the Dutch TV production company behind The Voice.

The transaction marks a step up from the steady string of smaller TV-production purchases made by ITV, including last year's $360 million purchase of 80% of Leftfield Entertainment Group, the company behind Real Housewives of New Jersey and Pawn Stars. ITV CEO Adam Crozier said the acquisition "is absolutely in line with our desire to create and own formats that travel," as the London group predicted that it will boost its earnings immediately.

The base price is about a third less than some observers had forecast when exclusive talks came to light two weeks ago, but the payout could rise by a further €600 million, depending on Talpa Media's profit growth over the the next eight years and de Mol's deciding to remain with the business. The Dutch entrepreneur made his fortune by creating Big Brother and subsequently selling the Endemol production house behind the reality show to Telefónica for €5.5 billion in 2000 at the height of the tech boom. Incentivizing de Mol to stick with Talpa Media has been seen as a critical part of any deal.

Talpa Media had €233 million in revenue last year and €61 million in EBITDA. The €600 million performance-related component is payable in three tranches. ITV will shell out the first €100 million if EBITDA averages €50 million to €60 million in 2015 and 2016; €400 million will change hands if EBITDA averages €75 million to €100 million between 2017 and 2019; and ITV will pay another €100 million if EBITDA averages €115 million to €130 million in 2020 to 2022.

ITV can claw back some of the price if average earnings over the first two years lag the target.

Talpa Media, based in Hilversum and Laren in the Netherlands, has operations across Western Europe as well as in Los Angeles and Dubai.

The Voice has been broadcast in 180 countries, with its high-profile coaches including Pharrell and Christina Aguilera in the United States, and Will.i.Am in the United Kingdom.

Spin-off The Voice Kids has been sold to appear in 28 countries.

Moody's Investors Service analysts Christian Azzi and Sandra Veseli warned that "the acquired company's revenues appear to be heavily concentrated on a single format, The Voice, and that entertainment and reality genres are crowded ones where program differentiation and viewership loyalty is harder to achieve compared to scripted shows."

Seeing the deal as "credit negative" since ITV plans to finance some of the price with new debt, Moody's said the U.K. company's adjusted debt-to-equity ratio could increase to about 2 times from 1.3 times following the purchase. But the ratings agency didn't downgrade ITV's credit grades.

Another Talpa Media format is the game show, with offerings like I Love My Country and reality-leaning Dating in the Dark.

ITV expects the deal to close in the second quarter.

Its shares were up 3.5 pence, or 1.4%, at 220.6 pence. The company has a market value of about £10.1 billion ($15.1 billion).

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