"This is a transformative opportunity to expand our leadership in the world of gaming and physical collectibles and deepen our reach into thriving fan-driven categories," Alliance Entertainment CEO Jeff Walker said in a statement accompanying the announcement. "With their legacy of exclusive titles, deep retail relationships, and strong presence in comics, tabletop games, and collectible merchandise, these businesses are highly complementary to our existing distribution and fulfillment model. We see powerful cross-selling potential between our product lines and customer bases, expanding the reach of our expanded product portfolio across both mass retail and specialty channels."
Alliance Entertainment will finance the acquisition through an expansion of its existing $120 million revolving credit facility, which it expects to increase to $160 million.
Alliance is the kind of well-financed, well-managed company that has the resources to transform and modernize the comics and game distribution businesses it is acquiring (see "World According to Griepp").
Closing, subject to approval by the bankruptcy court, is scheduled to take place by April 10 (see "Plans for the Auction").
We await the details of the deal to find out the impact on Diamond’s unsecured creditors, and the fate of Diamond UK, which was not mentioned as an acquired asset.
