Peppermint, the Munich and Kuala Lumpur-based film and programme sales company, is set for an financial reprieve having been sideswiped by the collapse of rights trader and producer Helkon.

Prior to last week's announcement that Helkon would not emerge from insolvency protection, peppermint boss Michael Knobloch bought back the 51% stake in the company owned by Helkon. He is now in advanced negotiations with a third party investor to re-sell the majority holding.

"I hope to be able to announce the deal to sell on the shares to a major media investor by early next week, Monday, perhaps Tuesday," Knoloch told screendaily.com.

Underlining Knobloch's determination to keep the business going, peppermint this week signed a deal with Austrian state broadcaster ORF to represent its catalogue. The deal sees peppermint handle some 2,000 hours of TV movies, documentaries and music programming for sale in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei, the Philippines and South Korea.

"ORF offers programming of the highest quality and we are expecting a great deal of interest from the Asian broadcasters," said Knobloch.

Last month peppermint acquired worldwide rights outside Germany, Austria and German-speaking Switzerland, on San Sebastian International Film Festival competition entry Pigs Will Fly.