Having been reportedly courted by Haim Saban and Walt Disney, Germany's EM.TV & Merchandising has sold all of its shares in the 100%-owned subsidiary The Jim Henson Company (TJHC) to the children of its founder Jim Henson.

The transaction is worth approximately $89m, including a cash purchase price of $78m and $11m cash currently available on the books of TJHC. Both parties agreed to preserve confidentiality on other aspects of the agreement.

While the deal with the Henson family is subject to EM.TV shareholder approval, a statement indicated that "as planned, EM.TV AG was able to realise the approximate value on its books of TJHC (Euros 110m at December 31, 2002) as a result of this sale and the pre-payment in January 2003 of the remaining amounts due to it from Sesame Workshop."

EM.TV's share shot up by almost 20% to Euros 1.17 in afternoon trading on Wednesday (May 7) on the news of the sale of TJHC to the Henson family.