Portfolio
Chorion
| Sector | Technology, Media & Telecoms |
|---|---|
| Investment type | Buyouts |
| Region | UK |
| Status | Current investment |
Nature of Business
Chorion is a global media content company which owns and manages a number of the world’s best loved literary and entertainment brands, including children’s classics such as Noddy, the Mr Men, Beatrix Potter and Enid Blyton’s Famous Five. The company also owns and manages the rights to the works of several famous crime authors, including Agatha Christie (Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot), Raymond Chandler (Philip Marlowe) and Georges Simenon (Inspector Maigret). In addition to publishing, Chorion’s brands now encompass categories such as toys and games, apparel, digital games and DVDs. These items are sold in retail outlets across the world including Wal-Mart, Target and Toys R Us in the US, Tesco and Argos in the UK, and Carrefour in France.
Investment Overview
In May 2006, 3i backed the public-to-private buyout of Chorion in a £136m transaction. We were a natural partner for the company, thanks to our strong track record of investing in the media sector and our relationship with Chairman, Waheed Alli, with whom we had worked on a previous 3i investment, Shine.
Our investment allowed the management team to take a range of attractive, but underexploited intellectual property and create TV content for a new generation of children, driving growth in licencing and merchandising in each of the brands.
We have also supported the managment team in reviewing strategic acquisition opportunities. In November 2007, Chorion acquired The Copyrights Group, a licensing and merchandising agency which represents the owners’ intellectual property rights for characters such as The World of Beatrix Potter, Paddington Bear and The Snowman.
With our backing, Chorion has achieved significant organic growth. In 2009, the Mr Men and Little Miss titles recorded book sales of more than 12 million copies worldwide, the ‘Olivia’ brand was launched on air with Nick Jr in the US and the company delivered six new Agatha Christie films to ITV. We have also made our global network available to Chorion and the company has grown its international sales significantly since our investment, having launched its brands across Europe and penetrated new markets including the US, Japan and Australia.
