Hornby Acquires Corgi
Written by andy on May 15th, 2008 in Toys.
The UK-based Hornby Hobby Toys has acquired the brand, tooling and intellectual property rights to Corgi International, returning the maker of collectible die-cast toys English control and uniting two popular UK brands.
Corgi has licensed the die cast rights to Star Trek, Batman, Harry Potter, James Bond, the Beatles, and Halo as well as the PopCo and Master Replica brands.
Since 2006 when it acquired Cards Inc. and Master Replicas, Corgi has been an aggressive player in the field of collectible toys, and moved beyond its traditional die cast niche by grabbing the master toy license for some high profile projects such as The Golden Compass.
But the bold moves didn’t pan out and the company’s Hong Kong investors decided to sell.
They recently divested the Cards Inc. division (see “Corgi Sells Cards Inc.”), before deciding on the deal with Hornby. Hornby paid 7.5 million pounds (about $15 million dollars) to acquire Corgi.
Horny plans to strengthen the Corgi product line and improve both marketing and distribution
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