Entertainment One, the firm behind the popular Peppa Pig children’s character and the distributor of the Twilight movies, is expected to announce this week that it is considering putting itself up for sale.
The television, film and distribution business is ready to look into strategic options after receiving several expressions of interest from private equity firms, one of which is thought to value the business at £400 million. It is understood that JPMorgan and Credit Suisse have been approached with the task of selling Entertainment One.
Revenues for the group had shot up by 12 per cent to £470 million for the year to 31 March, with pre-tax profits of £11.4 million, an increase of 42.5 per cent.
Peppa Pig is currently one of Britain’s most loved children’s characters, and has its own theme park in the UK. The small cartoon character is also a hit in the US, and the Peppa Pig programme is one of the top ten shows on the children's channel, Nick Jr.
Entertainment One’s film and TV distribution business in the UK and the US is still its most lucrative, however, with the value of its film portfolio - including the Twilight series and children’s film Gnomeo & Juliet - put at £158 million last year.
