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!”
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Entertainment Rights
ReplyDeleteJanuary 2007
In January 2007, Entertainment Rights plc, the specialist supplier of children's and family programming, completed a £71.0 million fundraising by way of a Placing and Open Offer. The fundraising funded part of the consideration for the acquisition of the entire issued share capital of Classic Media Holdings, Inc., being acquired for a total consideration of US$210.0 million (£106.9 million). Altium acted as Sponsor, Joint Broker and Joint Underwriter to Entertainment Rights plc on the transaction.