Robert G. Friedman, who resigned in 2005 as vice chairman of the Paramount Motion Picture Group, and Patrick Wachsberger, chief of the foreign film sales company Summit Entertainment, joined a group of investors led by Merrill Lynch to acquire Summit and make it part of a new movie production and distribution company called Summit Entertainment L.L.C., the executives said Thursday, the New York Times reports.

The new company, which has access to over $1 billion in financing, expects to make and distribute work in various media, including as many as 12 feature films annually, according to the executives.

Summit has helped finance such films as “Babel” and “Mr. and Mrs. Smith.” In the new company, Mr. Friedman will be chief; Mr. Wachsberger will be president of Summit Entertainment and chief executive of the Summit International unit.