Owatonna Media has today completed a transaction with Coolabi Plc, whereby Coolabi will acquire for cash consideration and deferred entitlements full ownership of three Owatonna Media subsidiary companies which each own and control all rights to the estates of authors ERIC AMBLER, MICHAEL INNES and JOHN CREASEY. Simon Clegg, chief executive of Owatonna Media commented, “This deal is a positive one for shareholders, and a really good fit for Coolabi. It marks the next phase in the commercial management and exploitation of these author brands. Owatonna Media will continue to be involved with these authors, not least by virtue of its ongoing role with audio and radio exploitation of all titles by these three authors. The company will also be seeking to attract additional author brands.

Coolabi plc is an AIM-listed media group focused on the ownership, development, production and creative management of high quality intellectual property assets and their global exploitation through licensing and merchandising and distribution. The group owns or controls the intellectual property rights to international brands including Purple Ronnie and Scarlett and Crimson, as well as selected rights to properties such as the Hammer House of Horror. Coolabi is also responsible for a variety of hit TV shows including The Large Family for CBBC.

Notes to editors: Eric Ambler is widely regarded as a pioneer of sophisticated thrillers whose work paved the way for such writers as John Le Carré, Len Deighton and Robert Ludlum. He published 19 novels under his own name, including The Dark Frontier, Uncommon Danger and Epitaph for a Spy. 2009 is the centenary year of Ambler's birth and sees five of his first six novels re-published in the Penguin Modern Classics range. Michael Innes was the pseudonym of an Oxford don turned detective fiction writer with more than 50 novels and many short stories. The best-known of Innes's detective creations is Inspector (later Sir) John Appleby of Scotland Yard, who features in multiple books. John Creasey was one of the world's most prolific novelists. He wrote over 550 separate books using more than 10 pseudonyms, across a range of crime and mystery, thrillers, children's, science fiction, westerns and romance titles. Creasey is said to have sold 80 million books in 26 languages, including the Gideon of Scotland Yard, The Toff and Inspector West series. Creasey founded the Crime Writers' Association (UK), which still celebrates this with the Creasey Dagger awarded each year. A number of titles from the Gideon of Scotland Yard and The Toff series have been adapted for film and long-running TV series, radio and audio books and many are still active.”
As written in The Bookseller, 20/08/2007