Takara Co., Japan's second largest toy company, has announced plans to acquire 51.6% of Broccoli Co., which owns the Gamers chain of anime character stores, some characters of its own, and a U.S. publishing operation.  The transaction was valued at around $15 million at Friday's Broccoli stock price and Yen-Dollar exchange rate. 

Broccoli has been active in the U.S. in recent years, investing in Digital Manga as a way to begin retail operations here (see 'Japanese Retailer Invests in Digital Manga'), and recently announcing a U.S. manga publishing operation (see 'Broccoli Books Starts Manga Line'). 

But recent financial results in its core Japanese retailing business have been weak.  The company announced that it expects to lose around $14.5 million (at current exchange rates) in its fiscal year ending next February on declining sales, losses from game software development, and inventory obsolescence. 

Takara will purchase a total of 10 million shares in Broccoli.  Two million of those shares will be purchased from Broccoli President Takaaki Kidani, who in the Japanese style of taking responsibility for his company's performance will donate the proceeds to the company.

Broccoli owns the Di Gi Charat characters, which are being published in the U.S. both by its own publishing arm and by Viz, and has collaborated in the past with Takara on Beyblade.

Takara is aligned in the U.S. with Hasbro, which produces both its Beyblade and Transformers toys here and elsewhere in the world.