Apple TV+’s Monarch: Legacy of Monsters
US studio Legendary Entertainment, whose credits include blockbusters Godzilla, Dune and A Minecraft Movie, is reportedly eyeing a deal to acquire Lionsgate Studios.
According to Bloomberg, Legendary, which is backed by private equity group Apollo, is in the very early stages of exploring a deal. In the meantime, the plan is for the companies to collaborate on some features to see whether a tie-up would be viable.
For Lionsgate, the deal comes just two months after it separated its studio operation from its streamer/cablenet Starz.
One of the primary reasons behind the spin-off was to create new opportunities for M&A activity. Lionsgate is wasting no time in exploring potential deals and reports of these talks could encourage other potential suitors to come forward.
Lionsgate Studios officially launched on the New York Stock Exchange on May 9, with shares trading at US$7.22. However, market reaction has been lukewarm so far, as shares fell under US$6 last month. Following the Bloomberg report on Friday, Lionsgate Studios’ shares jumped 20% to US$7.
For Legendary Entertainment, the talks come around nine months after it bought out the stake in the company held by Chinese conglomerate Wanda Group. Legendary is now owned by company management and funds managed by Apollo, which made a US$760m minority equity investment in Legendary in 2022.
Legendary was also at one point linked with a potential bid, alongside Apollo, to acquire Paramount Global, though it was eventually sold to Skydance in a deal that is still awaiting regulatory approval.
The studio’s TV credits include Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (Apple TV+), which is currently being expanded with several spin-offs in the works; Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft (Netflix); and Drops of God (Apple TV+).
The Legendary-Lionsgate talks are taking place at a time when it appears many deals could be in the offing.
Both Warner Bros Discovery and NBCUniversal are spinning of their cable assets into new companies, setting themselves up for potential deals, while it emerged last week that A+E Global Media has been put up for sale by its 50-50 joint owners Disney and Hearst Communications.
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.c21media.net ’
