Jakks Pacific is Winning Bidder for Pentech

It wasn’t exactly a body slam, but Malibu toy maker Jakks Pacific Inc. bested a rival bidder for Edison, N.J., specialty stationer Pentech International. Pentech’s board unanimously voted to accept Jakks’ offer to buy the company for $20 million in cash and assume $19 million in debt. Jakks, whose World Wide Wrestling figures have been a best seller, originally signed an agreement to buy Pentech in May. But the company was forced to increase its bid by about 15%, from $1.40 to $1.60 per share, to match an unsolicited offer this week from privately held RoseArt Industries, a 77-year-old Livingston, N.J., arts and crafts supplier. RoseArt executives did not return calls seeking comment. Shareholders of Pentech, a maker of pens, markers and activity sets, are scheduled to meet July 28 to vote on the acquisition. Jakks, which earned $22 million on sales of $183.7 million last year, hopes to reverse Pentech’s weak results by combining the pen maker’s products with Jakks’ activity sets for children. Pentech had net losses in four of the last five fiscal years. Pentech shares rose 3 cents to close at $1.53, while Jakks shares fell 69 cents to close at $17.63. Both trade on Nasdaq.