Hasbro to go private?

Reports from the US say Hasbro is in early-stage buy-out talks with a private equity firm.

Financial scuttlebutt says the firm is in talks with Providence Equity Partners to take the company private in a leveraged buy-out – a way for private equity firms to finance large acquisitions through debt, according to Toy News.

A statement from Hasbro did not deny the rumours.

"There are always rumours and speculation about public companies and we just don’t comment on that," said the firm.

However, the New York Times reported that the talks actually broke off a week ago, although they may have restarted since.

Hasbro already has a strong presence in the games industry, with long-running relationships with the industry’s leading publishers such as Electronic Arts (Monopoly, Hasbro Family Game Night) and Activision (Transformers).