Hoping to beef up its presence in the American and Asian markets, Egmont Imagination, Scandinavia’s largest developer and marketer of kids TV and film entertainment, has made ex-LEGO man Michael Aagaard Andersen VP in charge of global commercial development.

One of his first chores will be to orchestrate and finalize a distribution partnership deal with London’s EVA Entertainment. ‘We already own a stake in EVA-it’s a company that has a global reach, but that, just like Egmont, is looking to expand even further,’ says Andersen. ‘An alliance with a company that has a strong distribution arm is not a foreign thought for us.’

In terms of acquisitions, Andersen will be scouting concepts for 2-D or 3-D animated series primarily for preschoolers. Egmont is also currently developing a couple of MTV-type shows for the tween and teen demographics.

Prior to joining Egmont, Andersen worked his way up the ranks at LEGO, occupying positions such as business manager, country manager, mass communications manager and finally, senior director for LEGO Dacta A/S.