London, 11 July 2001: – Leading European licensing agency Copyright Promotions Group (‘CPG’) is once more a fully independent company following a Management Buy Out (‘MBO’) from its parent company ISMM Group. Backed by ProVen Private Equity, the specialist private equity company, CPG’s management team successfully completed the MBO from ISMM which had acquired CPG in 1999 for over £23 million.
Kirk Bloomgarden, Chief Executive, Copyright Promotions Licensing Group, CPG’s licensing subsidiary, commented ‘The completion of this MBO brings CPG back into independent ownership. We are operating in a large market – retail sales of licensed product in 2000 were valued at some $175 billion, and are growing rapidly. Within this, we have an unrivalled position as an independent licensing agency, able to exploit characters, brands and sports rights across Europe. We are committed to continuing to provide the best possible licensing expertise to all our licensors and to growing our capability across all segments of our business.’
Stephen Edwards, Managing Director, ProVen Private Equity added ‘CPG acts on behalf of many of the World’s leading media and rights businesses, and is ideally placed as a leading independent to benefit from the growth in the international licensing market. ProVen has specialised for many years in investing in businesses which own or exploit intellectual property, and we are delighted to be backing the management team in acquiring a business they have developed successfully over a long period.’
David Cardwell and Richard Culley, who together founded CPG in 1974 and ran the company as an independent operation for many years, remain part of CPG’s management team alongside Kirk Bloomgarden and others.
As a result of the MBO, CPG expects to be reconfirmed as the exclusive worldwide licensing agency (excluding Japan) for the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/JapanTM by FIFA’s marketing subsidiary, FIFA Marketing AG. The marketing rights for the 2002 FIFA World CupTM reverted to FIFA following the ISMM Group being declared bankrupt in May 2001.
Further Enquiries:
Italo Cerullo, CPLG
020 8563 6400
Stephen Edwards, ProVen Private Equity Limited
020 7451 6506
Christopher Allner, ProVen Private Equity Limited
020 7451 6503