Posted Saturday, 6/16/2012 by PPNSteve

Konami to Get 4Kids' Yu-Gi-Oh! Assets Under Proposed Deal

Tentative proposal would transfer Toonzai agreement to Saban affiliate

2012-06-16 11:20 EDT - On Friday, North American anime distributor 4Kids filed a notice in its bankruptcy case that outlines who will take over its contracts and obligations. Under a proposed agreement, Kidsco Media Ventures LLC (an affiliate of Saban Capital) and 4K Acquisition Corp. (an indirect subsidiary of Japan's Konami Corporation) would divide the assets and obligations of 4Kids.

The proposed agreement has not been finalized, since Judge Shelley C. Chapman still has to approve the proposed agreement after a June 20 hearing.

If approved, the "Proposed Transaction" would assign several 4Kids contracts to Saban's Kidsco Media Ventures, including the following:

• The CW Network's Saturday Morning programming block (currently known as Toonzai) agreement terms
• Four Cubix agreements with Daiwon C & A Holdings, Cinepix, East Japan Marketing & Communications, CSC Media Group
• Dragon Ball agreement terms with Toei Animation and Funimation Productions
• Sonic X agreement with TMS Entertainment

If approved, the proposed transaction would also assign the following contracts and others to Konami's 4K Acquisition Corp.:

• Yu-Gi-Oh! distribution agreement with Warner Bros.
• 2003 Yu-Gi-Oh! movie deal memo with TV Tokyo, Nhon Ad Systems, Shueisha
• Yu-Gi-Oh! 3D: Bonds Beyond Time movie deal memo with TV Tokyo, Nhon Ad Systems
• TV Tokyo's agreement for Yu-Gi-Oh! seasons 1-3
• Nihon Ad Systems's agreement for Yu-Gi-Oh!
• Yu-Gi-Oh! music and soundtrack agreements with Cherry Lane, SKG Music, RCA Music Group
• Yu-Gi-Oh! merchandise license agreements with 2Feet, A&A Global Industries, Bentex Group/Extreme Concepts, Boss Creations International, Coveroo, Konami, and others
• Yu-Gi-Oh! foreign broadcast licenses to Ares Films, Digital Platform Iletisim Hizmetleri, KM Productions, Magus Entertainment, Nickelodeon UK, SIC TV, Televix Entertainment, Turner, United Channels of Israel, YTV, and others
• The lease on 4Kids Entertainment's 23rd/24th Street offices in New York City

The formal bankruptcy auction for "substantially all of [4Kids'] assets" began on June 5 between Konami's 4K Acquisition Corp. and Saban's Kidsco Media Ventures LLC. However, after a series of bids, the auction was adjourned to allow the two parties to consider an agreement that would split 4Kids' assets between them.

Konami is the Japanese licensor and distributor of the Yu-Gi-Oh! card game, while Saban once produced the Fox Kids programming block. (4Kids also once produced Fox's Saturday morning programming until 2008.)