Source: CNW
Guinness World Records Acquired
LONDON, Feb. 15 /CNW/ – HIT Entertainment Limited and The Jim Pattison
Group today announced that Jim Pattison Entertainment Ltd., a subsidiary of
the Group, has acquired Guinness World Records from HIT Entertainment.
Details of the sale will not be made public.
Guinness World Records (www.guinnessworldrecords.com) is the universally
recognized authority on record-breaking achievement. First published in 1955,
Guinness World Records has developed its annual book into an international
phenomenon published in more than 100 countries and 37 languages. The book has
gone on to become a record breaker in its own right, Guinness World
Records(TM) is the world’s best ever selling copyright book!
The Jim Pattison Group is Canada’s third largest private company with
sales of over $6.3 billion and over 29,000 employees and is a diversified
group of operating companies based in Vancouver, B.C., Canada
(www.jimpattison.com).  Its holdings include Ripley Entertainment Inc., which
has held the global rights to develop and operate Guinness World Records
museums and attractions for over a decade.  There are now six Guinness World
Record attractions in four countries, including Tokyo, Japan, Niagara Falls,
Ontario, Canada, Hollywood, California, San Antonio, Texas, and Gatlinburg,
Tennessee, in the U.S.A., and in Copenhagen, Denmark, with substantial demand
around the world for new Guinness World Records attractions.
Announcing the acquisition on behalf of the Group, Jim Pattison Jr.,
President of Ripley Entertainment, said that:  “Guinness World Records is an
iconic brand, and we are delighted to have been given the opportunity by HIT
Entertainment to add this global leader in world records to our Group. No
other enterprise collects, confirms, accredits and presents world record data
with the same investment in comprehensiveness and authenticity.  The coming
together of Guinness World Records and Ripley’s Believe It or Not! creates an
historic combination of the world-leading authorities on records and record-
breaking, and all that is unbelievable.”
Until its sale today, Guinness World Records had been a division of HIT
Entertainment, a leading independent producer and distributor of high-quality
family programming worldwide.  HIT Entertainment, established in 1989, is one
of the fastest growing rights-owning companies in the world, and a specialist
in children’s character rights.  Enjoying a comprehensive distribution network
and long-established relationships with the world’s leading broadcasters, HIT
Entertainment has amassed one of the world’s most successful libraries of
children’s content including the properties Bob the Builder(TM), Barney(TM),
Thomas & Friends(TM), Pingu(TM), Fireman Sam(TM), and Angelina Ballerina(TM).
Ripley Entertainment, Inc. (www.ripleys.com) is a leading global
attractions company with annual attendance of more than 13 million. In
addition to its 60-plus attractions, the Orlando-based company has publishing
and broadcast divisions that oversee projects including the globally
syndicated Believe It or Not! television show, best-selling books and the
popular syndicated cartoon strip, Ripley’s Believe It or Not! that still runs
daily in 200 newspapers in 42 countries.  There are now 30 Ripley’s Believe It
or Not!(R) Museums (also called Odditoriums), with a new, 25,000 square foot,
state-of-the-art museum scheduled to open in London’s iconic Trocadero in
August 2008. The unique attractions feature exhibits that one must see to
believe – exhibits that are so bizarre, so odd, so strange, that even the most
worldly and knowledgeable guests will be awestruck.
< < About HIT Entertainment >>
HIT Entertainment, owned by private equity investment group Apax
Partners, is one of the world’s leading independent children’s entertainment
producers and rights-owners. HIT’s portfolio includes properties, such as
Barney(TM), Bob the Builder(TM), Thomas & Friends(TM), Pingu(TM), Fireman
Sam(TM), Angelina Ballerina(TM) and Rainbow Magic(TM). HIT represents Fifi and
the Flowertots(TM) in North America and Japan and acts as a worldwide
representative for The Jim Henson Company’s library of classic family brands
and as representative for The Wiggles(R) in the UK. HIT also owns the Guinness
World Records(TM) publishing and television property. Launched in 1989, HIT’s
lines of business span television and video production (including studios in
the US and the UK), publishing, consumer products licensing and live events.
With a catalogue of more than 1,000 hours of young children’s programming, HIT
sells its shows to more than 240 countries worldwide, in more than 40
different languages and has operations in the UK, US, Canada, Hong Kong and
Japan. In 2005, the Company joined Comcast Corporation, PBS and Sesame
Workshop to launch PBS KIDS Sprout(SM), a 24-hour digital cable channel and
VOD service for preschoolers.  In 2007, HIT and Chellomedia, the European
content division of Liberty Global, Inc and its subsidiary ChelloZone,
announced a joint venture to launch and distribute JimJam, an international
pre-school TV channel (excludes the US, UK and China). For more information,
visit www.hitentertainment.com.
For further information: Nick Desmarais, Managing Director Legal
Services, of The Jim Pattison Group, +1-604-688-6764; Jim Pattison Jr.,
President, +1-407-345-8010, or Tim O’Brien, Vice President, Communications,
+1-615-646-7466, obrien@ripleys.com, both of Ripley Entertainment; Philip
Ranger, SVP Corporate & Commercial Communications, +44 207 554 3681, or Nicole
Price, Director, PR & Communications, +44 207 554 3613, both of HIT
Entertainment Ltd, Web Site: http://www.jimpattison.com,
http://www.hitentertainment.com, http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com,
http://www.ripleys.com