Boomerang Media buys Postman Pat owner Entertainment Rights
Basil Brush and He-Man licensing firm's UK and US operations sold off after going into administration
Mark Sweney The Guardian, Wednesday 1 April 2009 13.51 BST
Postman Pat: one of Entertainment Rights' properties.
Entertainment Rights, the company that owns the licensing rights to children's characters such as Postman Pat and Basil Brush, has gone into administration with its UK and US operations sold to Boomerang Media.
The deal with Boomerang Media, which is backed by a US private equity firm managed by the co-founders of Classic Media, which Entertainment Rights acquired in 2006, will save the jobs of 90 staff working in the UK and US.
Entertainment Rights, which has today suspended its shares and will have its stock market listing cancelled from tomorrow, said last month that none of the bidders for the business were willing to buy it as a going concern.
"The board of Entertainment Rights has explored a broad range of strategic options over the past six months including the possibility of restructuring or refinancing the company's debt, raising new equity and a sale of all or parts of the business," the company said today. "Despite the financial support of the group's lender through this period, the group has been unable to achieve a solvent restructuring of the company."
Boomerang Media, which is backed by the Chicago-based private equity firm GTCR, has acquired the US and UK operations of Entertainment Rights and both will continue to trade as normal. The sale will not result in any return of money to Entertainment Rights shareholders. The company has debts of more than £130m.
"The sale secures the ongoing activities of the group's trading subsidiaries, allowing the former businesses of Entertainment Rights to survive under new ownership," said the company. "The new owners have indicated their intention to invest in the business to further develop its strong portfolio of intellectual property."
Boomerang Media owner GTCR is jointly managed by Classic Media co-founders Eric Ellenbogen and John Engelman.
Entertainment Rights' acquisition of Classic Media, which owns the rights to Lassie and The Lone Ranger, for £107m in 2006, helped create the massive debt which has now brought the company to its knees.
Other rumoured bidders had included private equity house Apax, which already owns rival children's character group Hit Entertainment, and the investment vehicle of Haim Saban, the entrepreneur behind Power Rangers.
Thursday 2 April 2009
The Times
From The Times
April 2, 2009
Entertainment Rights falls and Postman Pat goes West
David Wighton: Business Editor's commentary
British Steel, Pilkington, Jaguar . . . so many of our prized assets have already fallen into foreign hands that losing another hardly seems to matter. Still, there was something profoundly shocking about the news that we have lost Basil Brush and Postman Pat. The custodian of these national treasures, a company called Entertainment Rights, collapsed yesterday into the arms of the New York-based Boomerang Media.
During the good times, Entertainment Rights was too preoccupied in chasing expensive deals and buying dated characters — such as Rupert Bear or Lassie — hoping to revamp them, rather than developing new hits. Even the evergreen Pat was forced to leave sleepy Greendale for the big city.
Many of us have great affection for Basil Brush, but shareholders should perhaps have questioned the resilience of a character with the catchline “Boom, boom!”
April 2, 2009
Entertainment Rights falls and Postman Pat goes West
David Wighton: Business Editor's commentary
British Steel, Pilkington, Jaguar . . . so many of our prized assets have already fallen into foreign hands that losing another hardly seems to matter. Still, there was something profoundly shocking about the news that we have lost Basil Brush and Postman Pat. The custodian of these national treasures, a company called Entertainment Rights, collapsed yesterday into the arms of the New York-based Boomerang Media.
During the good times, Entertainment Rights was too preoccupied in chasing expensive deals and buying dated characters — such as Rupert Bear or Lassie — hoping to revamp them, rather than developing new hits. Even the evergreen Pat was forced to leave sleepy Greendale for the big city.
Many of us have great affection for Basil Brush, but shareholders should perhaps have questioned the resilience of a character with the catchline “Boom, boom!”
ADMINISTRATION - THIS DEAL STINKS
Postman Pat and Basil Brush cost HBOS £75m as Entertainment Rights collapses
Chris Tryhorn
The Guardian, Thursday 2 April 2009
Article history
Postman Pat: part of the stable of Entertainment Rights characters. Photograph: BBC
The collapse of the company behind Postman Pat and Basil Brush is believed to have cost HBOS more than £75m.
The bank, which is now part of the part-nationalised Lloyds Banking Group, has had to write off at least half of its loans to the media group Entertainment Rights, banking sources said. Entertainment Rights' debts had swollen to as much as £150m, forcing it to go into administration yesterday and sell all of its assets to a US group.
The company applied to have its shares suspended and is expected to lose its listing on the London stock exchange today.
Entertainment Rights had failed to find a buyer for its whole business and finally called in administrators at Deloitte when it gave up hope of securing a "solvent restructuring". The company's stable of children's characters, which also includes Rupert Bear and He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, have been bought by New York-based Boomerang Media, a company backed by the Chicago-based private equity group GTCR and managed by Eric Ellenbogen and John Engelman. The Americans will now take back ownership of some of their old properties such as Lassie and Casper the Friendly Ghost, which they sold to Entertainment Rights as part of the $210m (£107m at the time) disposal of their previous company, Classic Media, in December 2006, a deal that played a major part in Entertainment Rights' later debt problems.
The value of yesterday's sale was not disclosed, but it is believed to have fallen a long way short of recovering all of Entertainment Rights' debts. The deal has left investors, who had already seen the value of their shares almost wiped out, likely to receive nothing. However, it was good news for the group's 90 employees in London, New York and Nashville, who will transfer to the new company. Entertainment Rights' demise closes a turbulent period in which it issued a series of profit warnings, saw its chief executive leave after just nine months and axed a third of its staff. "The board of Entertainment Rights has explored a broad range of strategic options over the past six months including the possibility of restructuring or refinancing the company's debt, raising new equity and a sale of all or parts of the business," said Nick Edwards, a Deloitte partner and joint administrator. "Despite the financial support of the group's lender through this period, the group has been unable to achieve a solvent restructuring."
Chris Tryhorn
The Guardian, Thursday 2 April 2009
Article history
Postman Pat: part of the stable of Entertainment Rights characters. Photograph: BBC
The collapse of the company behind Postman Pat and Basil Brush is believed to have cost HBOS more than £75m.
The bank, which is now part of the part-nationalised Lloyds Banking Group, has had to write off at least half of its loans to the media group Entertainment Rights, banking sources said. Entertainment Rights' debts had swollen to as much as £150m, forcing it to go into administration yesterday and sell all of its assets to a US group.
The company applied to have its shares suspended and is expected to lose its listing on the London stock exchange today.
Entertainment Rights had failed to find a buyer for its whole business and finally called in administrators at Deloitte when it gave up hope of securing a "solvent restructuring". The company's stable of children's characters, which also includes Rupert Bear and He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, have been bought by New York-based Boomerang Media, a company backed by the Chicago-based private equity group GTCR and managed by Eric Ellenbogen and John Engelman. The Americans will now take back ownership of some of their old properties such as Lassie and Casper the Friendly Ghost, which they sold to Entertainment Rights as part of the $210m (£107m at the time) disposal of their previous company, Classic Media, in December 2006, a deal that played a major part in Entertainment Rights' later debt problems.
The value of yesterday's sale was not disclosed, but it is believed to have fallen a long way short of recovering all of Entertainment Rights' debts. The deal has left investors, who had already seen the value of their shares almost wiped out, likely to receive nothing. However, it was good news for the group's 90 employees in London, New York and Nashville, who will transfer to the new company. Entertainment Rights' demise closes a turbulent period in which it issued a series of profit warnings, saw its chief executive leave after just nine months and axed a third of its staff. "The board of Entertainment Rights has explored a broad range of strategic options over the past six months including the possibility of restructuring or refinancing the company's debt, raising new equity and a sale of all or parts of the business," said Nick Edwards, a Deloitte partner and joint administrator. "Despite the financial support of the group's lender through this period, the group has been unable to achieve a solvent restructuring."
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