Noddy Grows Up

From Sun Mail :

Mr Men £25m deal is on hold
Jon Rees, Mail on Sunday
28 December 2003

HORION, which owns the rights to Enid Blyton's Noddy and the works of Agatha Christie, has been forced by the Takeover Panel to consult shareholders if it wants to go ahead with a £25m plan to buy the Mr Men characters.

The company, which said it was in exclusive talks to acquire the Mr Men from the privately owned Hargreaves organisation, had hoped to complete a deal by the end of the year.
The Takeover Panel ruled last week that rival group Entertainment Rights should make an offer for Chorion or walk away by noon on 4 February. Any Mr Men deal is now likely to be put on hold until after that date.
Entertainment Rights has made a number of informal approaches to Chorion over the past year or so, though Chorion chairman Lord Alli said these significantly undervalued his company.
However, the Panel invoked Rule 21 of the City's takeover code. This states that the Chorion board must not acquire assets without shareholder consent if an offer is about to be made, or 'even before the date of the offer' if one is thought to be imminent.
Chorion would almost certainly become too big for Entertainment Rights to swallow if it acquired the Mr Men characters, so shareholders will have to decide if their company is better served by the Mr Men deal or by being taken over.
If Entertainment Rights fails to bid by the deadline, it is forbidden to make an approach again for six months. The company has said it is considering its options*, but it is extremely unlikely to make a hostile bid for Chorion.
Chorion and Entertainment Rights, which owns Basil Brush and Postman Pat, are about the same size with market capitalisations of about £36m each. Entertainment Rights signed an agreement with Chorion at the start of the year that prevents it bidding for the company before 27 January.