Lionsgate Rejects Icahn’s Latest Offer

SANTA MONICA/VANCOUVER: Lionsgate is urging its shareholders to reject Carl Icahn’s latest offer, which upped the per-share purchase price from $6 to $7.

The Lionsgate board has unanimously rejected the most recent Icahn offer as "financially inadequate, opportunistic and coercive and is not in the best interests of Lionsgate, its shareholders and other stakeholders."

Lionsgate’s co-chairman and CEO, Jon Feltheimer, added: "We believe that the offer pales in comparison to the value inherent in the world class platform we have established over the past ten years."

The studio is urging its shareholders to reject Icahn’s tender offer and to vote to approve its Shareholder Rights Plan in a bid to fend off Icahn’s hostile takeover attempt. The indie says that the plan intends to ensure that all of Lionsgate’s shareholders are "treated equally and fairly in connection with any proposals to acquire effective control of Lionsgate"; the rights of shareholders are maintained; and "significant decision-making authority" is afforded to shareholders. Lionsgate continues: "By design, the Shareholder Rights Plan does not prevent or restrict a proxy challenge, but deters inadequate, opportunistic and coercive offers, such as the offer by the Icahn Group."