From the Hollywood Reporter

[murgatoad]

Hope this is okay, Philip. This is a short blurb from the HR - I'm not a subscriber, so I can't give you the full story:

As the bidding for the Jim Henson Co. winds down this month, more suitors have joined billionaire Haim Saban in the hunt for Kermit, Miss Piggy and other Muppet characters, but none of the usual big media players are among them. Indeed, the absence of the two biggest kids media players, the Walt Disney Co. and Nickelodeon parent Viacom, has spurred speculation that one or both might be poised to field an eleventh-hour bid later this month. Henson's troubled German parent company, EM.TV & Merchandising, is in dire need of raising cash by year's end to meet a $65 million loan payment. New York-based Classic Media, which in recent years has acquired the Harvey cartoon library and the Golden Books franchise, is understood to have signed a letter of intent to bid on Henson, as has London-based rights holder Entertainment Rights. Classic Media's backers include Frank Biondi's WaterView Partners investment vehicle. News of Classic Media and Entertainment Rights' interest in Henson was first reported on Saturday by Reuters

 

[Phillip]

Here's the full text...

More players join bidding as Henson deadline nears
Courtesy of the Hollywood Reporter

As the bidding for the Jim Henson (news) Co. winds down this month, more suitors have joined billionaire Haim Saban in the hunt for Kermit, Miss Piggy and other Muppet characters, but none of the usual big media players are among them.

Indeed, the absence of the two biggest kids media players, the Walt Disney Co. and Nickelodeon parent Viacom, has spurred speculation that one or both might be poised to field an eleventh-hour bid later this month. Henson's troubled German parent company, EM.TV & Merchandising, is in dire need of raising cash by year's end to meet a $65 million loan payment.

New York-based Classic Media, which in recent years has acquired the Harvey cartoon library and the Golden Books franchise, is understood to have signed a letter of intent to bid on Henson, as has London-based rights holder Entertainment Rights.

Classic Media's backers include Frank Biondi's WaterView Partners investment vehicle. News of Classic Media and Entertainment Rights' interest in Henson was first reported on Saturday by Reuters.

Saban, who pocketed an estimated $1.5 billion last year in the sale of his Fox Kids Worldwide joint venture to Disney, is understood to have recently fielded a roughly $130 million bid. Former UPN president and CEO Dean Valentine also emerged last week as a player with the backing of investment advisors Europlay Capital Advisors, though it's believed that Valentine is looking to pursue a partial acquisition or managing partnership arrangement with EM.TV (HR 12/6). Sources said EM.TV chief executive Werner Klatten has indicated that he would like to maintain some long-term interest or licensing alliance for EM.TV with Henson as part of any transaction.

There had also been talk of a buyout offer coming from Henson's current management team, but the status of that effort is unclear.

Of the known contenders, the deep-pocketed Saban is viewed as the best-positioned to quickly conclude a cash transaction. Allen & Co. is handling the sale process on behalf of EM.TV, which has said it expects to find a buyer for Henson by year's end.

EM.TV bought Henson for $680 million in early 2000, but the German media firm nearly fell apart soon after due to the crash of its highly inflated stock price and suffocating debt load from an acquisition spree. EM.TV's founders, brothers Thomas and Florian Haffa, are currently on trial in Germany on charges of fraud and lying to investors in an effort to manipulate the company's stock price on the now-defunct Neuer Markt index.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...players_join_bidding_as_henson_deadline_nears