Edge sells Working Partners, Beast Quest to portfolio company

The sale resulted in Edge receiving Coolabi shares worth £1.7m more than its original investment in Working Partners and Beast Quest.

The firm acquired stakes in the two businesses in July 2012 via its Edge Performance venture capital trust. The transaction allowed new holding company Beast Quest Acquisitions to purchase 100% of the shareholding of Beast Quest from Working Partners.

Edge invested £2.66m in the newly formed holding company WP Acquisitions, which used the capital to acquire an initial 92.5% stake in Working Partners with the option to procure the balance.

Edge invested in Coolabi in December 2011, backing the £4.95m management buyout of the company that saw it delist from the AIM. The deal marked an exit for Beringea, which had invested in the company in 2007, according to unquote" data.

Founded in 1999 as Alibi Communications and based in London, Coolabi operates a portfolio of intellectual property rights for children- and family-focused products. Its licensing portfolio currently includes children's classics Bagpuss and The Clangers.

Company
Working Partners, a London-based creator of children's and adults' fiction series, was founded in 1994. The company's project portfolio includes Animal Ark and Heartland.

Founded in 2007, Beast Quest is a series of children's fantasy novels established by Working Partners. It split from Working Partners in 2012 when Edge backed the two new holding companies for the two businesses.

The series is published by Orchard Books in the UK and Scholastic Corporation in the US. It is written by several authors under the collective pen name Adam Blade. As of mid-2013, there were 78 books published in the series.

People
Working Partners was founded by Ben Baglio and Rod Ritchie. Jeremy Banks is the CEO of Coolabi. Edge's CEO is David Glick.

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• Topics
• Exits
• UK / Ireland
• Media
• United Kingdom
• Partial sale