Henson Family to Buy Back Muppets
FRANKFURT, Germany (Reuters) – Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy and their Muppet friends are back home.
Ailing German media group EM.TV & Merchandising AG said on Wednesday it agreed to sell Jim Henson Company, the maker of the Muppets, to the children of their inventor, the late Jim Henson.
Putting an end to a protracted auction that has been going on for years, EM.TV said it would sell its wholly owned subsidiary completely for $89 million. It bought Henson for $680 million at the peak of the stock market bubble in 2000.
EM.TV said the Henson family would pay $78 million in cash for the group, and that EM.TV would receive Henson Company’s current liquid assets of $11 million. The group said it would use the proceeds to pay back a $14.3 million loan and to bolster its liquidity.
Shares in EM.TV jumped over 20 percent on the news.
Taking more turns than Miss Piggy’s mood, the auction had attracted interest from several media firms, including giant Walt Disney Corp., media investor Haim Saban and a group around investor Dean Valentine.
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