EM.Sport Offloads Kids’ Division

ISMANING, May 29: EM.Sport
Media today announced a deal to sell its EM.Entertainment kids’ content
business to Belgium’s Studio100 for an initial price of 41 million euros.

The sale of the children’s
programming arm has been in the works since May 2007, as the German company
moved to focus its efforts on its lucrative sports business. “The key objective
in the divestment process was the achievement of an appropriate sale price,”
said Werner E. Klatten, the CEO of EM.Sport Media. “At the same time, however,
it was also important to us to divest our Entertainment Segment—also in
respect of our employees—in its entirety. With the sale to Studio100,
which is one of the strongest companies in the children’s and family
entertainment sector within the Benelux region in particular, we have found the
ideal buyer. EM.Sport Media can now again focus on its efforts on the expansion
of its sports activities and, following the increase of its shareholding in
Highlight Communications to 37.6 percent, can drive both companies forward to
create a leading media group within the European sports, film and TV production
sectors.”

In February,
EM.Entertainment entered into a distribution partnership with Studio100 Media,
Studio100’s distribution arm. Studio100 Media is led by former EM.Entertainment
chief Patrick Elmendorff.

—By Mansha Daswani