Guinness World Records sold to Ripley's owner

LONDON (Reuters) - The Guinness World Records brand, which bills itself as the authority on record-breaking achievements, has been sold to the company behind Ripley's Believe It or Not museums, famous for their unusual exhibits.

Canada's privately owned Jim Pattison Group, which owns the Ripley's "odditoriums" through a unit, said on Friday it had bought Guinness World Records from Britain's HIT Entertainment.

It declined to disclose the price tag, but newspaper reports put the sale at around 60 million pounds ($118 million).

Guinness World Records, previously known as the Guinness Book of Records, was first published in 1955.

HIT Entertainment, which bought Guinness World Records in 2002 when it took over Gullane Entertainment, owns a variety of children's brands from Bob the Builder to Fireman Sam.

(Reporting by Clara Ferreira-Marques; Editing by David Cowell)