February 20, 2008

A team from Fasken Martineau Stringer Saul, headed by partner, June Paddock, and with input from others in the London office including Allistair Booth, David Connick, Peter Rhodes, Stuart Richards, Mario Subramaniam and Paul Yerbury, alongisde Steve Lukas from the Vancouver office, assisted Ripley Entertainment, Inc., a subsidiary of The Jim Pattison Group, in its purchase of The Guinness World Records from HIT Entertainment Ltd. HIT Entertainment is owned by private equity investment group, Apax Partners.

The Vancouver-based Jim Pattison Group is Canada's third largest private company with assets of over $6.3 billion. Its holdings include Ripley Entertainment, Inc. which has held global rights to develop and operate Guinness World Records museums and attractions for over a decade. Leading global attractions company, Ripley Entertainment, Inc., owns 30 'Believe It Or Not' museums, or 'Odditoriums' housing extraordinary items such as stuffed two-headed animals and shrunken heads and the world's largest collection of medieval torture instruments. In August this year the entertainment group is opening a new 25,000 sq. ft. 'Believe It Or Not' museum at London's Trocadero in Piccadilly as well as a Guinness World Records resort in Bangalore in India.

Commenting on the acquisition, June Paddock said: "This has been the most entertaining negotiation that we have worked on for some time! Jim Pattison Entertainment Ltd. is a long-standing, much valued, client of Fasken Martineau Worldwide and we were delighted to be able to play our part in helping them to secure the rights to such an iconic brand."

First published in 1955, the Guinness World Records' annual book of record breakers is available in 37 languages and can be bought in 100 countries.

Weil, Gotshal & Manges advised HIT Entertainment in the negotiations.