Latest in Lionsgate MGM Merger

WEDNESDAY UPDATE, 12:30 PM: Here’s another potential Lionsgate board member whom Carl Icahn is wrangling — filmmaker Jay Firestone, a one-time vice chairman of Alliance Communications in Canada. According to insiders, it makes sense for Icahn to want an executive from Up North since Lionsgate is based there and in…

Lionsgate has sued its biggest shareholder Carl Icahn, claiming he publicly opposed a merger between the company and MGM then gummed up the process until he could profit substantially from a potential marriage. Lionsgate claims Icahn publicly said he would oppose the merger, only to turn around and secretly buy up a…

Carl Icahn is now offering 50 cents on the dollar for MGM debt in an attempt to bolster his position before creditors vote Friday on a reorganization plan that puts Spyglass partners Roger Birnbaum and Gary Barber in the driver’s seat of the debt-hobbled studio. Icahn had previously been offering 45 cents on the…

Carl Icahn has made another offer to MGM lenders in hopes of thwarting the prepackaged bankruptcy plan and Spyglass deal. He’s now offered to buy $1.6 billion in debt at a premium price of 53 cents on the dollar; last week, he offered to buy $963 million in debt. The offer expires Friday — the voting deadline for the…

In a letter sent to MGM on Monday, Lionsgate said its proposed merger with the studio would amount to $100 million in annual savings while boosting cash flow by $120 million over five years. Documents were also filed with the SEC. Among the details of the proposed merger: The new company would lead to a reduction in…

Calling the proposed Spyglass plan a “presciption for disaster,” Carl Icahn on Thursday offered to buy another $963 million of MGM’s debt. He already owns around $500 million of it, so the sum would make him one of MGM’s largest creditors — with a stake of around 37%. Pending the offer, he would then be in a…

BREAKING NEWS… UPDATE: She has signed a non-disclosure agreement and therefore can’t talk publicly to the media. But, making no secret that she was negotiating her exit from MGM after taking the job in April 2008, Mary Parent this afternoon is now officially out at the studio where she was Chairman of the Motion…

Lionsgate is making its argument for a merger with hobbled studio MGM, a move that is supported by Carl Icahn, who has been trying to take over  the mini-major while simultaneously buying up MGM debt. The timing is meant to provide an option for the current restructuring plan that will be voted on by MGM lenders this…

Below is Carl Icahn’s statement from this morning expressing his support for a proposed Lionsgate/MGM merger. Late Monday, Lionsgate sent a proposal to MGM expressing support of a “business combination” after what it called “detailed” discussions with Icahn. All of this after rebuffing Icahn’s attempts for so long…

The studio sees the glass as half full, putting out a statement that “66% of Lionsgate stockholders support management and rejected Carl Icahn’s $7-a-share tender offer. But after that offer expired last night, Carl Icahn now owns 33.9% of the Santa Monica movie and television studio which he’s been attempting to…

EXCLUSIVE: Reliable sources tells me that Lionsgate vice chairman Michael Burns flew to NYC on Wednesday night to have dinner with Carl Icahn “to see if they could work together and avert a hostile takeover of the studio”. This is a very big deal because in recent months and weeks the two men have been sparring very…

Another day, another brawl between Lionsgate and its biggest shareholder Carl Icahn as he attempts a hostile takeover of the studio. Today, he gave an interview to Dow Jones newswire saying he wouldn’t rule out supporting a merger between Lionsgate and MGM but slamming the benefit to shareholders of a deal between…