Hef Takes Playboy Private

By Chuck Sudo in News on Jan 10, 2011 2:35PM

Playboy Enterprises Inc. announced this morning that It's going along with a plan by founder Hugh Hefner to be taken private. Hefner has been working for months to put together a team of investors to take the company private, feeling that the company is undervalued at a time when its brand visibility is higher than ever.

Under the plan, the partnership under Hefner's control will pay $6.18 a share for the Playboy stock he doesn't own, which is a premium of 18 percent over the price Playboy stock closed at Friday. Hefner's partnership lined up equity commitments from an affiliate of Rivi Traverse Management LLC, a private investment firm; and a loan commitment from an affiliate of Jeffries & Co. Plpayboy CEO Scott Flanders will retain his role in the company, as well as have an investment stake.

That's should keep Hef in Diet Pepsi, silk pajamas and interchangeable pneumatic blondes well into his nineties.