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Muppets looks for buyout
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May 30, 2001: 3:04 a.m. ET
Report: Muppet chief seeks $200 million to buy Jim Henson Company
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LONDON (CNN) - Charles Rivkin, chief executive of Muppet creators the Jim Henson Company, is seeking backers to end its German ownership, a report said.
Rivkin is canvassing U.S. private equity firms for the $200 million needed to complete a management buy-out, ending its brief period under the ownership of EM.TV (AETV), the Financial Times reported.
EM.TV spokeswoman Marion Moormann told the FT "the sale of Henson via a management buyout is one of the possibilities currently being explored." Moormann said the company had received other expressions of interest.
Rivkin is growing impatient with EM.TV's lack of clarity about its intentions for the Jim Henson Co., which it bought in February last year for about $680 million in cash and shares.
EM.TV went on a spending spree last year, acquiring Jim Henson and a half share in the rights to Formula One motor racing. Those acquisitions saddled EM.TV with debts estimated at more than  1 billion ($900 million), forcing it into a rescue deal with media giant Kirch Group.
People close to EM.TV consider a management buy-out unlikely to succeed and see Walt Disney (DIS: Research, Estimates) and Viacom (VIA: Research, Estimates) unit Nickelodeon as favorites to buy the company, the paper said.
Disney has offered between $200 and $250 million for the business, the FT said. 
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