HgCapital. the European equity group, has halted the sale of German toy company Schleich. Schleich manufactures miniature animal figures and popular blue toys called Smurf. The said decision was confirmed by three individuals who spoke on condition of anonymity.
According to these sources, the expected price of HgCapital was much too high for any interested bidders. The projected price for the asset was at Eur200 million or US$257 million. This was a valuation that was well above the cost of Scheleich's bigger competitors and the bid price was near Eur160 million.
One of the sources close to HgCapital said, "Schleich has developed well and the question is when will buyers acknowledge that adequately." The decision to pull out Schleich may come with it a later decision to return the asset up on the seller's block.
HgCapital has engaged the services of Goldman Sachs to search for a purchaser for the company. All three firms, HgCapital, Schleich and Goldman Sachs declined to provide a comment on the matter.
HgCapital purchased Schleich for Eur165 million. Schleich was founded in 1935 by Friedrich Schleich was a manufacturer of plastic components, Since then it has made figurines, such as Snoopy, the Muppet Show characters, Smurfs and others.
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