LOGO OMITTED NEWS
FROM PLAYBOY ENTERPRISES, INC.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media/Investor Contact:
Martha Lindeman
312-373-2430
PLAYBOY ENTERPRISES ANNOUNCES DEBT OFFERING
CHICAGO, Wednesday, March 5, 2003 - Playboy Enterprises, Inc. (PEI) (NYSE:
PLA, PLAA) today announced that it is pursuing an offering of senior secured
notes in the principal amount of $110 million with a maturity of seven years.
The senior secured notes would be issued by PEI Holdings, Inc., a wholly-owned
subsidiary of Playboy Enterprises, Inc., and would be guaranteed by Playboy
Enterprises, Inc. and most of its other domestic wholly-owned subsidiaries.
The offering would be made in the United States only to qualified
institutional buyers pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933,
as amended, and potentially to certain persons in offshore transactions in
reliance on Regulation S under the Securities Act. The net proceeds from the
offering would be used to repay outstanding indebtedness under Playboy's
existing bank credit facility, to pay a portion of the deferred purchase price
for the Califa acquisition and for general corporate purposes.
The senior secured notes to be offered would not be registered under
the Securities Act and could not be offered or sold in the United States
absent registration or an applicable exemption from registration requirements.
***
Playboy Enterprises is a brand-driven, international multimedia entertainment
company that publishes editions of Playboy magazine around the world; operates
Playboy and Spice television networks and distributes programming via home
video and DVD globally; licenses the Playboy and Spice trademarks
internationally for a range of consumer products and services; and operates
Playboy.com, a leading men's lifestyle and entertainment Web site.
This release contains "forward-looking statements" as to expectations,
beliefs, plans, objectives and future financial performance, and assumptions
underlying or concerning the foregoing. These forward-looking statements
involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which could
cause our actual results, performance or outcomes to differ materially from
those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. The following
are some of the important factors that could cause our actual results,
performance or outcomes to differ materially from those discussed in the
forward-looking statements:
(1) foreign, national, state and local government regulation, actions or
initiatives, including:
(a) attempts to limit or otherwise regulate the sale, distribution
or transmission of adult-oriented materials, including print,
video and online materials,
(b) limitations on the advertisement of tobacco, alcohol and other
products which are important sources of advertising revenue for
us, or
(c) substantive changes in postal regulations or rates which could
increase our postage and distribution costs;
(2) risks associated with our foreign operations, including market
acceptance and demand for our products and the products of our
licensees and our ability to manage the risk associated with our
exposure to foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations;
(3) increases in interest rates;
(4) changes in general economic conditions, consumer spending habits,
viewing patterns, fashion trends or the retail sales environment which,
in each case, could reduce demand for our programming and products and
impact our advertising revenues;
(5) our ability to protect our trademarks, copyrights and other
intellectual property;
(6) risks as a distributor of media content, including our becoming subject
to claims for defamation, invasion of privacy, negligence, copyright,
patent or trademark infringement, and other claims based on the nature
and content of the materials distributed;
(7) competition for advertisers from other publications, media or online
providers or any decrease in spending by advertisers, either generally
or with respect to the adult male market;
(8) competition in the television, men's magazine and Internet markets;
(9) the television and Internet businesses' reliance on third parties for
technology and distribution, and any changes in that technology and/or
unforeseen delays in its implementation which might affect our plans
and assumptions;
(10) risks associated with losing access to transponders, competition for
transponders and channel space;
(11) any decline in our access to, and acceptance by, cable and DTH systems
or any deterioration in the terms or cancellation of fee arrangements
with operators of these systems;
(12) attempts by consumers or citizens groups to exclude our programming
from pay television distribution;
(13) risks that we may not realize the expected operating efficiencies,
synergies, increased sales and profits and other benefits from
acquisitions;
(14) risks associated with the impact that the financial condition of
Claxson, our venture partner, may have on our existing partnership
relationship or the recently concluded restructuring of the joint
venture relationships between us, on the one hand, and Claxson, on the
other hand, and the risks that we may not realize the expected
operating efficiencies, synergies, revenues and profits and other
benefits from the restructuring of our joint venture relationships;
(15) increases in paper or printing costs;
(16) effects of the national consolidation of the single-copy magazine
distribution system; and
(17) uncertainty of the viability of the Internet gaming, e-commerce,
advertising and subscription businesses.