Investor group buying Dick Clark Productions

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

NEW YORK - Dick Clark Productions, which produces TV programs including "New Year's Rockin' Eve" and the Golden Globe Awards, is being sold to a group including investment firm Guggenheim Partners.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

Selling Dick Clark Productions is private equity firm RedZone Capital Management, owned by Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder. RedZone bought the company in 2007 for $175 million.

Along with Guggenheim, other buyers include Mandalay Entertainment, whose CEO Peter Guber is a film producer and also co-owner of the Golden State Warriors basketball team, and Mosaic Media Investment Partners. Mosaic was part of a consortium that took Dick Clark Productions private in 2002.

Mandalay and Guggenheim Partners were part of the investor group that paid $2 billion for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

"We are committed to providing Dick Clark Productions with the resources to continue growing its business in a way that creates value for sponsors, networks and audiences, and we look forward to energizing fans in new and innovative ways," Mosaic Media Managing Partner Allen Shapiro said in a statement.

Dick Clark Productions went public in 1987 and grew into a large business with an array of programs and several thousand employees. When Clark suffered a stroke in 2004, his role at the company was reduced. When RedZone purchased the company in 2007 the television icon stayed connected to it only through his annual appearances in the New Year's Eve show. Clark died of a heart attack in April at age 82.