Nova Scotia Business Inc. on Thursday said it has sold its shares in Halifax-based DHX Media Ltd., almost tripling its money in less than nine years.

Founded by Michael Donovan, a long-time film exec who won an Academy Award for his work on Bowling for Columbine, DHX is involved in the creation, production and licensing of family entertainment rights.  The company owns, markets, and distributes 9,500 half hours of children's entertainment content, and exploits owned properties through its consumer products licensing business.  Its brands include Yo Gabba Gabba!, Caillou, Teletubbies, and In the Night Garden.

After a series of acquisitions, the company’s shares have been soaring lately, rising 189 percent in the past year, according to Bloomberg.  

NSBI, the Nova Scotia government agency responsible for generating private sector growth, invested $3 million in the company in 2005, a year before the company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The agency said it sold its 1.6 million shares last week at $5.25 a share, generating proceeds of more than $8.4 million – or 2.8 times its original investment. The investment resulted in a return of over $5.4 million.

“DHX Media is a great story for Nova Scotia,” Peter MacAskill, Vice President of NSBI, said in a statement. “NSBI’s Venture Capital division invested in them when they were a young entrepreneurial company and today they are an international success story. Our role as an investor is done.”

The early investors in the company included GrowthWorks Atlantic, which has also exited its investment.

Donovan added: “NSBI’s investment was critical to our initial growth.  We are pleased that the willingness to risk investment at an early stage in a Nova Scotia media company has resulted in a capital gain for the province.”