Re Joint Venture
September 30 2003 - 3:31AM
UK Regulatory
RNS Number:3228Q
Galleon Holdings PLC
30 September 2003
GALLEON HOLDINGS PLC:
THREE CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT HEAVYWEIGHTS JOIN FORCES
WITH P.C. PEPPER OF 'PEPPER'S PATROL'
Galleon Holdings plc and Coolebah Ltd announce Joint Venture Company.
Galleon Holdings plc ("Galleon"), the AIM quoted cross-media company, announces
the formation of a joint venture company, Peppers Patrol Limited, 50% owned by
Galleon and 50% owned by Coolebah Ltd. The Joint Venture will be responsible for
the development, production, licensing and merchandising of the Pepper's Patrol
television series worldwide.
Galleon's investment and rights in the property will be assigned to the new
company. The value of development work and acquisition of rights to be
transferred is #300,000 (three hundred thousand pounds).
This transaction brings together for the first time three individuals with a
tremendous track record in children's entertainment industry, William Harris,
Rob Lee and Jim Driscoll.
Lee, the creator of Pepper's Patrol, also created the hugely popular BBC's
Fireman Sam. His other credits include Satellite City (TVAM), Joshua Jones
(BBC), and he designed and drew the characters for The Shoe People (TVAM).
Driscoll created The Shoe People, a children's TV series selling to over 60
countries; sales of books from the series reached over 20 million around the
world, earning Driscoll an MBE in 1994 for services to publishing.
Harris spearheaded the worldwide growth of one of this country's most successful
and well-known character series, Thomas The Tank Engine, breaking into the two
largest global markets for children's entertainment in the world namely, Japan
and the USA.
Harris set up Coolebah Ltd after leaving Gullane Entertainment, where he was
Chief Executive until its acquisition by HIT last September. He led the
transformation of Gullane from a one-product company into a broadly-based,
family entertainment studio, owning rights to properties such as Sooty, Guinness
World Records, Art Attack and Fireman Sam, In addition to Thomas The Tank Engine
"I am delighted to be working with Rob and Jim on this exciting new property,
and I believe that Galleon and Coolebah make strong, synergistic partners in
this venture," commented Harris. "We will be developing 'Pepper's Patrol' for
the world market and it will go into production during 2004."
Jim Driscoll, Chairman of Galleon, said today, "I am very excited at the
prospect of working closely with William and Rob. We have recently started the
creative development , and interest in Pepper's Patrol has already started to
build, even though we are at a relatively early stage,. This joint venture holds
considerable promise for Galleon during 2004 and 2005, and further reinforces
the approach of creating value from our growing portfolio of rights."
About Galleon Holdings plc:
Galleon Holdings is a content provider across platforms in multimedia broadcast
and interactive software. The Group's strategy is to build, acquire and own a
significant intellectual property rights' portfolio. The Group owns companies
with intellectual property rights in software, animation and new media. Galleon
Holdings plc is the holding company of the Group incorporating Astro Knights
Ltd, Probe Media Ltd, Redeye PR Ltd, Clipper Media Ltd and A4 Holdings plc. It
also owns equity interests in two other companies.
For more information regarding this announcement please contact:
James Driscoll Paul Wooding/Natalie Johnson
Chairman MCC International
Galleon Holdings plc T: +44(0) 1962 888 108
T: +44(0) 1384 350 210 E: pwooding@mccint.com
M: +44 (0)7785 977 969 W: www.mccint.com
E: james.driscoll@galleonplc.com
Sam Allen/Peter Binns
Binns & Co. PR Ltd.
T: 020 7786 9600
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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