Hasbro issued a press release to deny market rumours that it was for sale. However, the games company admitted it had been approached by a private equity firm about a possible deal – and that the Board of Directors had turned them down.
This is interesting as a private equity company might well decide there is more value in the parts of Hasbro than Hasbro has a whole.
For example, the PE firm might decide to sell the Transformers rights on to someone (Disney, for example) and then Playskool on to someone else – and it might not be so clear as to who would buy Wizards of the Coast but it could have been a computer games company.
Speculation that it the company is for sale woudl effect Hasbro’s share price.
I no wheeler and dealer of shares but as I understand it these rumours surfaced because the company’s forward looking statements (ie; what might happen in the future) talked about a dilution of shares (or a dilution, at least) given its joint venture with Discovery communications. Shares can become diluted as companies buy and sell one another.
A copy of the full press release is online for anyone bonkers and cool enough to decode it and leave meaningful comments below!
