Friday March 13, 2009
Following a number of positive announcements this year, the Panini Group (the world’s largest publisher of collectibles) has just supplemented its new North American venture with the purchase of the sports trading card business of Donruss Playoff, L.P.

Donruss, from their Arlington Texas headquarters, currently produces trading cards under the famous brand names of Donruss, Playoff, Leaf and Score. Having been established since 1954, Donruss is the second oldest Trading Card Company in the USA and has become especially renowned for their exceptional product quality and innovation capabilities.

Donruss is currently publishing officially licensed products for the NFL (National Football League).

Following the NBA's (National Basketball Association) announcement at the end of January that Panini had been appointed their exclusive Trading Card publisher, Panini announced the formation of their new US subsidiary; Panini America, Inc.

Panini America, Inc will now have its operational base in Texas and will start publishing its NFL programs in May. The NBA publishing program will follow, starting in October giving Panini a substantial base from which to grow its operation.

Previous positive news from Panini this year covered the announcement that FIFA confirmed the Group’s appointment as the exclusive world wide licensee for Trading Cards and Sticker Album collections for both Football World Cups in South Africa in 2010 and Brazil in 2014. Warner Bros recently announced Panini's outstanding contribution to the Harry Potter franchise through it's considerable in-depth support resulting in sales of over 1.25 billion Stickers and Trading Cards; proving that Panini's business is not just about Sports.

The Panini Group CEO commented; “Panini's vision of the future is simply to grow the North American Trading Card market considerably, this determination is demonstrated clearly by the acquisition of the Donruss Sports Card business. There is considerable talent within the 50 plus strong Donruss team and a fine legacy from which we can grow the product category and attract new collectors. Our priority now is to integrate the team, supplement it where necessary with the extra help required to manage the enlarged business and complete the work already started on the development of our enlarged publishing program”.

About Panini
The Panini Group was established almost 50 years ago in Modena, Italy and with its subsidiaries throughout Europe and Latin America; it is the world leader in the published Collectibles sector. Panini is also the leading multi-national publisher of comics, children’s magazines and manga in Europe and Latin America. The Panini Group is expected to make record sales of approaching $1Billion in 2008, has distribution in 100 countries and employs a staff of more than 700.