IDW Media Holdings is exploring its strategic options less than a month after hedge fund firm ADW Capital Partners pushed the media business to sell itself.
The company said Monday that it has hired JPMorgan Chase & Co. to help with a review of strategic relationships and alternatives. ADW, which owns more than 9 percent of IDWM, had asked the company in a letter earlier this month to announce such a process to maximize the value of its intellectual property.
“We are working to extend our reach through new strategic partnerships while examining other alternatives to realize the full value of IDWM’s outstanding IP portfolio and pipelines,” Howard Jonas, IDWM’s chairman and CEO, said in the statement.
New York-based hedge fund ADW told the company in its March 5 letter that the market has discounted its value because of its lack of scale and resources or its unwillingness to sell to a strategic partner. The company, which publishes comic books and distributes television shows, had been planning to raise money from existing stockholders to help cover production costs.
[II Deep Dive: Hedge Fund Presses IDW Media to Sell Itself or Risk Struggling]
“IDWM continues to build on its extensive library of widely followed and critically acclaimed graphic novels and comics, as well as its slate of current and planned television series, including some of the strongest and most innovative franchises in the industry,” Jonas said in Monday's statement.
The Stamford, Connecticut-based company announced in December it had obtained financing from Jonas but needed additional capital to cover production costs, including for Netflix Original series “October Faction” and “Wynonna Earp.”
IDWM’s shares, which trade over the counter, were down about 1 percent Monday morning at $26.19 each.
