Working Partners Holdings and Beast Quest, sister companies which have published more than 1,000 children’s fiction titles, have been sold to the founders of Bagpuss rights holder Coolabi.

Jeremy Banks and Tim Ricketts, the entrepreneurial duo behind children’s entertainment specialist Coolabi, have acquired Working Partners Holdings and Beast Quest.

The deal was backed by Edge Performance VCT, a venture capital trust which targets entertainment and media companies and is also an investor in Coolabi. Neither the amount of Edge’s investment nor the total value of the transaction have been disclosed.

Working Partners and Beast Quest have created children’s fiction series such as Animal Art, Heartland, Warriors and Beast Quest. Last year, they released new properties in 30 countries and their titles have been published in 40 languages.

The two companies were founded by Ben Baglio and Rod Ritchie, and will continue to be run by their existing management team, led by managing director Chris Snowdon and operations director Charles Nettleton.

The businesses were purchased by two companies set up by Banks and Ricketts for the specific purpose of making the acquisitions.

Banks and Ricketts are respectively the chief executive and finance director of Coolabi, and led a management buy-out of the company last year which was backed by Edge Performance VCT. Before the deal, Coolabi was listed on AIM.

Coolabi owns children’s intellectual property assets such as Poppy Cat, Purple Ronnie, Fungus the Bogeyman, The Worst Witch and Bagpuss.

Ingenious Corporate Finance, a specialist media and technology adviser, represented the vendors in the acquisition of Working Partners and Beast Quest.