Hasbro Acquired by Mattel! BREAKING NEWS!

March 30 (NGA) — Mattel Inc., formerly the world’s largest toymaker, agreed to buy Hasbro Toys Inc. for $48.6 billion, acquiring the biggest manufacturer of foam dart blasters in the toy-gun market.

Mattel is offering $65.52 a share, according to a statement today, a 35 percent premium over yesterday’s closing price. The board of Rhode Island-based Hasbro Inc unanimously approved the transaction, and investors holding 39 percent of the stock, including Chief Executive Officer Brian Goldner and Capital Research Global Investors agreed to the deal.

The purchase of Hasbro, the world’s largest maker of foam dart blasters, will fill a product hole for Mattel. It doesn’t have such an established line of dart blasters, locking it out of a $4 billion market in the U.S. and Europe. The category also is a bright spot in a toy industry that has seen growth stall in the U.S.

Mattel considered starting its own foam dart blaster line, and eventually did (see: BoomCo), however they later opted instead to buy Hasbro because it would be faster and less risky, Mattel CEO Bryan G Stockton said on a call with reporters. Mattel got its first taste of foam dart blasters in 2014 when it debuted BoomCo blasters and formed a licensing deal with Microsoft’s Halo video game series.

“This acquisition is all about growth,” Stockton said. “We see an opportunity to expand our BoomCo brand in this category across boys, girls and even the college and university crowd.”

Mattel shares rose 1.4 percent to $25.06 at the close in New York. They have declined 8.4 percent over the past year. Shares of Hasbro surged 24 percent to $63.34 today at the NYSE.

Mattel is coming off a lackluster holiday season, with sales sinking 6.4 percent — the biggest quarterly drop since 2009. The El Segundo, California-based toymaker has looked to acquisitions to boost sales in the past. In February of 2012, it paid $680 million to buy HIT Entertainment Ltd., owner of Thomas the Tank Engine. It also acquired Fisher-Price Inc. for $1.1 billion in 1993, Tyco Toys Inc. for $775 million in 1996 and American Girl LLC for $700 million in 1998.

Hasbro Inc. — the world’s third-largest toymaker, after Lego and Mattel — has shied away from making large acquisitions to enter categories. And now it itself has been acquired by Mattel. This merger will make Mattel regain its place as the number one toymaker in the world. Mattel will merge all existing Hasbro product lines into its own matching lines of toys. The Nerf brand in particular will be renamed and rebranded with the BoomCo markings.

Mattel Inc’s takeover of competitor Hasbro Corp of Pawtucket has been completed, the toy maker announced late Tuesday. Hasbro became a wholly owned subsidiary of Mattel and all outstanding shares of Hasbro common stock were converted into the right to receive $5 per share in cash at the close of business Monday, the company said. Mattel Inc’s takeover of the thriving Hasbro cements its place as the nation’s largest toy maker. Hasbro and Mattel did not announce plans to merge. The $8.64 billion deal is Mattel’s largest ever and is expected to vault the company’s net sales to more than $5 billion, strengthen the company’s international business and solidify its top ranking in the domestic market. Mattel tallied $895.7 million in net sales last year. Hasbro reported sales of $397.8 million. Mattel last month filed a registration with the Securities and Exchange Commision to issue up to $250 million in debt to refinance the acquisition. John T O’Neil, Mattel’s chief financial officer, said Mattel would begin issuing the debt this month to put long-term financing in place. Mattel, on March 23rd, purchased 86 percent of Hasbro’s outstanding stock. The remaining 14 percent were converted late last night.

For more details, and the full press release, click here: Mattel-Hasbro Acquisition Press Release.