Miramax may be closer to being sold!
So much going on with the current state of Miramax. Disney has been trying to sell the studio since January, but their asking price of $700 million has been too high for most, if not all, bidders interested in the deal. But, apparently a bid of $650 million has made some buyers tempted to take this offer and negotiations are in place to seal that deal.
Disney is in agreement to sell the Miramax Films name and its 611-picture library for $650 million to a group of investors headed by construction executive Ronald Tutor and Colony Capital, which is a privately held institutional investment firm run by founder and CEO Thomas Barrack Jr. But this deal is not set in stone.
Interestingly, this group has said they have $300 million to invest, and a good chunk of change more filtering in from investments and capital from James Robinson, chairman of Morgan Creek Productions, and Gulf Capital, an investment firm based in Abu Dhab. But that leaves around $200 million more to be raised by getting lenders to approve a huge loan. Now Bob and Harvey Weinstein are not happy about this deal (they originally had planned to buy Miramax back, but after taking a look at its current net worth decided that it was only worth paying $575 million, which of course Disney declined).
The new reported buyers are confident that they can raise the money needed to seal the deal. The other problem lies in the fact that the Weinsteins hold rights to major franchises within the Miramax library, meaning that if the new investor wanted to remake or continue certain key franchises they could face major issues in securing rights and ultimately making money off of them.
Another risky part of this deal has been the the involvement of producer David Bergstein, the CEO of Pangea Media, whose current legal actions is making Hollywood guilds object to his involvement. Currently, he is only an advisor on this purchase and not involved in any creative or operational endeavors the new company may partake in.
So even though this may be a solid agreement "in principle," it still could all fall through; anyone following this will need to stay tuned to see what other kinds of twists and turns this deal may lead to, and if it in fact finalizes, especially by its July 28 deadline.
Source The Hollywood Reporter
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