Management Buyout Completed
VIE LTD AND SPELLING ENTERTAINMENT GROUP, INC CONFIRM COMPLETION OF MBO OF VIRGIN INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT LTD BY SENIOR MANAGEMENT
Wednesday 18th November 1998 ...Virgin Interactive Entertainment Ltd, the interactive games software publisher, today confirmed that its management buyout from Viacom International Inc.'s Spelling Entertainment, has been completed. The agreement passes ownership of all of Virgin Interactive's remaining brands, intellectual properties-including the Group's entire back catalogue-and infrastructure in Europe and Japan to the new company's management team.
Immediately, the new team, led by VIE's former President of International Tim Chaney, indicated that a number of key announcements would be made over the next several weeks, including new agreements in sales, marketing, distribution and in the key area of content and software development. The new company will maintain its European offices in London, which houses all senior management. Virgin Interactive Entertainment has enjoyed significant success in the world-wide games market with revenues hitting $283 million in 1994. The company has strong re-publishing agreements with a number of important Japanese software publishers, including Capcom-with which the company has an agreement to publish a further eight titles, including Resident Evil and Street Fighter Alpha Ex for Nintendo's Colour GameBoy-Hudsonsoft, IREM Corporation and JVC. It also acts as distributor for a number of other companies throughout Europe, including Hasbro (France), Microsoft (Germany) and JVC and Bethesda across all European
territories.
VIE has plans to publish 10 new Playstation titles over the next six month period, including those from its Japanese partners, as well as Hasbro and US publisher Bethesda. VIE also retains the rights to publish Magic & Mayhem from the Mythos development studio, F-16 Aggressor from GSI and the eagerly awaited Viva Football, which has been developed internally by Virgin Interactive's 30-strong Crimson team, which is also based at the new company's London headquarters.
Additionally, Virgin Interactive holds a market leading position in the CD ROM budget market, with its White Label brand.
VIE's development studios, headed by Joss Ellis, will continue to support the PC platform, which continues to grow as a platform for games software, the Sony Playstation, and it has also confirmed its support for Sega's new Dreamcast machine.
Commenting on the company's management buyout, Tim Chaney said: 'VIE is an extremely strong consumer games brand and has consistently delivered Europe's biggest games to the consumer over the last five years. The company has a strong product portfolio well into 1999 and we will deliver this to the market in a typically aggressive and creative way. As the games software industry develops with new platforms and new methods of delivering entertainment into the home, we intend to ensure that Virgin Interactive will be at the forefront of the industry and new technology.'
He added: 'We are embarking on a strong product acquisition path, pulling on the experience and resources we are now happy to have available to us.'
The management buyout was led by Chaney, VIE's VP of Business Planning Alan Cartwright and SVP of Development Joss Ellis and was supported by various individuals in the US led by investment banker Averil Associates. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Immediately, the new team, led by VIE's former President of International Tim Chaney, indicated that a number of key announcements would be made over the next several weeks, including new agreements in sales, marketing, distribution and in the key area of content and software development. The new company will maintain its European offices in London, which houses all senior management. Virgin Interactive Entertainment has enjoyed significant success in the world-wide games market with revenues hitting $283 million in 1994. The company has strong re-publishing agreements with a number of important Japanese software publishers, including Capcom-with which the company has an agreement to publish a further eight titles, including Resident Evil and Street Fighter Alpha Ex for Nintendo's Colour GameBoy-Hudsonsoft, IREM Corporation and JVC. It also acts as distributor for a number of other companies throughout Europe, including Hasbro (France), Microsoft (Germany) and JVC and Bethesda across all European
territories.
VIE has plans to publish 10 new Playstation titles over the next six month period, including those from its Japanese partners, as well as Hasbro and US publisher Bethesda. VIE also retains the rights to publish Magic & Mayhem from the Mythos development studio, F-16 Aggressor from GSI and the eagerly awaited Viva Football, which has been developed internally by Virgin Interactive's 30-strong Crimson team, which is also based at the new company's London headquarters.
Additionally, Virgin Interactive holds a market leading position in the CD ROM budget market, with its White Label brand.
VIE's development studios, headed by Joss Ellis, will continue to support the PC platform, which continues to grow as a platform for games software, the Sony Playstation, and it has also confirmed its support for Sega's new Dreamcast machine.
Commenting on the company's management buyout, Tim Chaney said: 'VIE is an extremely strong consumer games brand and has consistently delivered Europe's biggest games to the consumer over the last five years. The company has a strong product portfolio well into 1999 and we will deliver this to the market in a typically aggressive and creative way. As the games software industry develops with new platforms and new methods of delivering entertainment into the home, we intend to ensure that Virgin Interactive will be at the forefront of the industry and new technology.'
He added: 'We are embarking on a strong product acquisition path, pulling on the experience and resources we are now happy to have available to us.'
The management buyout was led by Chaney, VIE's VP of Business Planning Alan Cartwright and SVP of Development Joss Ellis and was supported by various individuals in the US led by investment banker Averil Associates. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Companies:
VIE