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Mattel to buy International Games

LOS ANGELES -- Mattel Inc. said Thursday it has agreed to buy International Games Inc., the maker of card games Uno and Skip-Bo, in a stock-swap of undisclosed value.

Mattel said the deal, which is expected to be completed next month, is designed to give a boost to Mattel's recently established game division.

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'International Games will be the cornerstone on which we build Mattel's games business, and will immediately provide us a meaningful presence in the category,' said John W. Amerman, chairman and chief executive officer. 'Uno is the top selling game in the industry, based on unit sales.'

The deal will make International Games, of Joliet, Ill., a wholly owned subsidiary of Los Angeles-based Mattel.

International Games, founded in 1972 by its current chairman, Robert Tezak, has annual sales of about $30 million and about 50 employees. It currently markets more than 30 games and sells products in 25 countries.

The acquisition will be the first for Mattel since it bought Aviva Sport, a San Francisco-based maker of sports toys, last summer.

Mattel, the No. 2 toymaker after Hasbro Inc., earned $83.6 million on sales of $1.11 billion in the first nine months of last year.

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