Round 2 has officially aquired Polar Lights, AMT, and MPC

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Round 2 sent out a press release on Thursday, December 1, 2011, announcing they had “acquired all rights to industry leading model kit brands AMT, MPC and Polar Lights from TOMY International, Inc.”

In short, this means Tom Lowe has bought Polar Lights, AMT and MPC, giving him ownership of the brands and assets of those companies.  Up to now, Round 2 had be licensing the brands from Learning Curve and TOMY.

In the press release, Tom Lowe, president of Round 2 says, “We feel extremely fortunate to be acquiring these brands…. These are some of the industry’s most iconic brands and our acquisition represents a significant strategic fit with our initiatives and where we believe the industry is headed, in the near and long term. This deal is a win for Round 2, TOMY and most importantly, the modelers.”

Here is a little timeline of significant dates in the history of these various companies (compiled by CultTVman):

  • 1945: Ertl is launched by Fred Ertl, manufacturing toy tractors
  • 1948: AMT is launched
  • 1963: MPC is founded
  • 1966: AMT produces the first Star Trek kits.
  • 1970:  General Mills buys MPC
  • 1974: MPC produces the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean kits
  • 1978: AMT is bought by British Lensey
  • 1978: MPC/Fundimentions produces Star Wars kits
  • 1981:  The Ertl Company purchases AMT from British Lesney
  • 1985:  Ertl acquires MPC from General Mills
  • 1996: Tom Lowe launches Polar Lights, reproducing  old Aurora monster models.
  • 1999:  Racing Champions buys out Ertl (including AMT and MPC)
  • 2004: Racing Champions (now called RC2) buys Playing Mantis (including Polar Lights)
  • 2006: RC2 shuts down AMT and Polar Lights
  • 2008: Round 2/Auto World leases Polar Lights, AMT, and Polar Lights from RC2
  • 2009: RC2 becomes Learning Curve
  • 2011:  TOMY buys Learning Curve in March
  • 2011:  Round 2 buys Polar Lights, AMT and MPC from TOMY in December

As I see it, the purchase of these assets by Tom Lowe and Round 2 should be seen a commitment to the modeling hobby and will hopefully mean growth for the industry.   It will be interesting to see what comes of this!