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Schleich dinosaur and Playmobil knight: a combination that is intended to stimulate the imagination
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The toy company Playmobil is toying with the idea of taking over its competitor Schleich.
The company is exploring whether and on what terms the manufacturer of plastic animals could be had, reports manager magazin, citing insiders.
The talks are therefore at an early stage.
Schleich belongs to the Swiss financial investor Partners Group, which bought the company in 2019 for around 400 million euros from the private equity company Ardian.
According to the report, Playmobil was already interested in Schleich at the time, but lost the bidding duel.
The magazine reports that Playmobil has set up an investment company called AKOH-Holding for possible acquisitions.
The company has over one billion euros in assets.
According to the report, the company in Zirndorf near Nuremberg suffered a massive drop in sales last year.
According to market researchers, sales in core markets such as Germany or France have fallen by more than ten percent in some cases.
According to the last available consolidated financial statements, the turnover of the parent company, Horst Brandstätter Holding, fell by 4.5 percent to 687 million euros in the fiscal year to the end of March 2020.
Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) collapsed by 30.3 percent to 65.6 million euros.
mamk/AFP
