Irwin Toy, license holder for Dragonball Z action figures, announced Tuesday, March 6 that it had been acquired by Livgroup Investments Ltd., a private holding company. Livgroup bought 100% of Irwin stock, for which they paid $6.25 each, for a total of nearly $55 million, a figure which includes the debt they assumed from Irwin.

This announcement comes nearly a week after rumors that Irwin was in negotiations to sell. There was speculation that one of hte major US toy companies, such as Hasbor or Mattel, was the potential buyer; however, Livgroup Investments, owned by investor Richard Ivey and consumer products specialist Jean-René Halde, turned out to be the buyer. Mr. Halde, who has experience in consumer products companies throughout Canada, will step in as new CEO.

“What I like is that they’ve gone from, 10 years ago, basically being a distributor of products in Canada to today being a manufacturer of exclusive products which seem to be doing well in the U.S. and other countries,” Mr. Halde said.

From the tone of this and other quotes, it would appear that Irwin will begin pursuing properties such as Dragonball Z, and other properties that promise to do well in the US. This can only be good for Dragonball toys, but we will see for sure in the next few months.

Posted by Jess Horsley on March 8, 2001 05:06 AM