Navarre Corp., a publisher and distributor of home entertainment and multimedia software products, has officially acquired all general and limited partnership interests in Fort Worth, Texas-based anime licensor/distributor FUNimation Prods. and The FUNimation Store Ltd. Navarre paid approximately $100.4 million in cash and 1,827,486 shares of unregistered Navarre common stock. The sellers could also receive up to $17 million in cash to be paid over five years if FUNimation achieves certain agreed upon financial goals during that period.
With such properties as Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT, Yu Yu Hakusho, Case Closed and Fullmetal Alchemist, FUNimation has 15 titles airing on broadcasters such as Cartoon Network, Disney Channel, Nickelodeon and PBS Kids. In addition to television, the company leverages its proprietary licensed content into various revenue streams including home video, toys, video games and trading cards.
FUNimation, which netted $29.8 million in 2004, also engages in third-party marketing, sales and distribution agreements with such content providers as 4Kids Ent., Nelvana, Alliance Atlantis, Chorion, WGBH, Cookie Jar Group, Porchlight Ent. and Mainframe Ent. Since the beginning of the year, the company has signed product license agreements for the properties Noddy, Winx Club, Akira Kurosawa’s Samurai 7 and My Dad the Rock Star, and inked a co-production agreement with skateboarding icon Tony Hawk.
Navarre chairman and CEO Eric Paulson comments, “The FUNimation transaction validates Navarre’s corporate strategy, which focuses on continued growth and content ownership through licensing while continuing to leverage our distribution assets.” He notes that FUNimation president Gen Fukunaga and exec VP Daniel Cocanougher will remain with the company as part of Navarre’s management team.
Fukunaga adds, “FUNimation will benefit from Navarre’s state-of-the-art retail distribution capabilities and Navarre offers FUNimation a capital structure to pursue new product opportunities and business initiatives.”
To complete the transaction, Navarre entered into a $165 million credit facility with GE Commercial Finance.
Along with the acquisition comes a subtle name change for FUNimation Prods. The company will now be known as Funimation Ent.
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