Carl Icahn, the billionaire investor who’s been trying to buy Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., said he supports the film studio’s proposed combination with Metro- Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.
Lions Gate sent a proposal of the combination to MGM on Monday, the Santa Monica studio said in a regulatory filing. A merger “would enhance value for all constituencies,” Icahn said Tuesday in a separate statement.
Icahn has been trying to take control of the Lions Gate, whose corporate headquarters are in Vancouver, British Columbia, with hostile bids since March, after Lions Gate rejected his efforts to increase his stake to as much as 30 percent. His current bid of $7.50 a share expires Oct. 22.
The offer also is better for MGM investors than its proposal with Spyglass Entertainment, Icahn said. Last week, MGM began soliciting votes from lenders for a bankruptcy plan that would turn over management of the film studio to Spyglass. In the plan, creditors would exchange more than $4 billion in debt for about 95 percent of equity when MGM emerges from bankruptcy. Spyglass, based in Burbank, would get about 5 percent of equity.
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