DIC Entertainment buys Golden Books

In the US, DIC Entertainment has bought children's media outfit Golden Books Family Entertainment in a $170m deal. The company will be privately held.

Under the terms of the deal, Golden Books and its domestic subsidiaries will file a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition and seek approval of the sale to DIC Entertainment under Section 363 of the bankruptcy code.

Golden Books' operations will continue as usual during the court and sale process, which is expected to take approximately 60 days.

DIC Entertainment, co-owned by Andy Heyward and global investment firm Bain Capital, will merge Golden Books' library of more than 500k titles (including a comic book collection, 3,000 movies, TV series and specials and cartoons) into its own library of over 2,500 episodes.

DIC's library includes Inspector Gadget, Madeline, Sailor Moon, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?, Action Man, Sonic the Hedgehog and Super Mario Bros.

Golden Books' leading titles are Lassie, Underdog, Pat the Bunny, the Poky Little Puppy and several seasonal franchises, like Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Little Drummer Boy.

DIC will maintain Golden Books' worldwide distribution network with a retail presence in more than 100k stores.

{This partnership launches a new era of greatly expanded reach and impact for Golden Books' publications and programming,{ said Golden Books', chairman and ceo Richard E Snyder.

The deal would give Golden Books {new capital to invest in our programming and products,{ he continued.

Joe Pretlow, md of Bain Capital, said: {We will continue to acquire other branded children's assets that fit our strategic goals both domestically and internationally.{

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DIC and BMG sign publishing deal 23 Mar 2001