Harvey Shares Rise as Firm Considers Sale

Harvey Entertainment Co. shares rose 24% as the entertainment company hired Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities Corp. to consider a possible sale of the company as it looks to increase returns to shareholders. Shares of the Los Angeles-based company, which manages and markets characters such as Casper and Richie Rich through merchandising, movies, videos and television, rose $1.56 to close at $8.06 on Nasdaq. Earlier, the shares touched $9. Harvey said it hired DLJ to advise it on a possible sale, merger, consolidation, recapitalization or spinoff of its business, securities or assets. “Harvey would need to find between $40 million and $60 million for production capital to exploit their characters in the direct-to-video marketplace,” said Jeffrey Logsdon, an analyst at Seidler Cos. “They need more capital to do entertainment projects.”