THE rights to well-loved children's character Rambling Ted, which has been featured by some of the world's top manufacturers, have been acquired by new owners with help from York-based commercial lawyers Denison Till.

The business, assets and intellectual property of loveable bear Ted, which Coolebah Ltd now plans to launch into the gift sector, were on the open market after the original owners, based in North Yorkshire, went into administration almost two years ago.

As well as owning many similar characters, Coolebah Ltd, which was based in Wetherby when the acquisition negotiations started but has since relocated to Newbury, becomes involved in children's animation projects from the start by helping to raise finance to get them into production by working with broadcasters, distributors and production companies.

Coolebah chief executive Janet Woodward said: "We are delighted to have been successful in the acquisition of Rambling Ted. As the purchase was from administration the negotiations were tricky and protracted, involving different parties including The Bank of Scotland and Rambling Ted's creator, Michael Abrams.

"Because we were based in Yorkshire at the time and the administrators were also Yorkshire-based, we sought local lawyers with a good understanding of intellectual property work. Denison Till demonstrated a very good knowledge of our sector and handled the whole process extremely well."

Pictured From left, Denison Till commercial department lawyer Martin Frost, who handled the Rambling Ted acquisition on behalf of Coolebah Ltd; Rambling Ted with Coolebah Ltd chairman William Harris; the head of Denison Till's commercial department, partner Andrew Lindsay; and Coolebah chief executive Janet Woodward

Updated: 10:37 Tuesday, October 21, 2003