from www.reuters.com – Jan 11 (Reuters LPC) – Jefferies is leading a $180 million term loan backing a bid by founder Hugh Hefner to take Playboy Enterprises Inc (PLA.N) private, banking sources told Thomson Reuters LPC on Tuesday.

The launch date for the term loan has not yet been determined, said the sources, who declined to be identified because the deal is private.

Icon Acquisition Holdings LP, which Hefner controls, plans to buy Playboy’s shares along with Rizvi Traverse Management LLC. Playboy has about $115 million in debt.

The transaction values the company at about $207 million, or $6.15 a share.

Shares of Playboy rose 17 percent on Monday following the deal’s announcement, to $6.09 a share. They were unchanged in Tuesday trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Hefner owns about 70 percent of Playboy’s Class A common stock and 28 percent of its Class B stock.

Playboy has been publicly traded since 1971. It was founded by Hefner in 1953 with $600.