Lionsgate Explores Very last-Moment Acquisition of Ailing STX Leisure

Lionsgate is exploring getting some or all of STX Amusement just after the “Hustlers” studio by now was in the midst of a planned sale to Najafi Providers for $173 million, persons with knowledge of the talks told TheWrap.

Reps for the two Lionsgate and STX declined to comment.

The obtain agreement from Najafi provided a 45-day “go-shop period” which allowed present-day STX operator Eros to solicit other proposals for 45 days, and the $173 million also involved absorbing $148 million in financial debt. STX would pay a $4.5 million termination cost if the deal with Najafi does not go through. Prior to the Najafi sale, the studio experienced attempted to promote off legal rights to its library of films to pay down its credit card debt, and is nearing a February deadline to repay its collectors.

In a SEC submitting on Friday, ErosSTX verified that the organization had received a further present beneath the go-shop procedure that was previously outlined in the initial phrases of the sale, but did not title Lionsgate as the possible consumer.

“Eros STX Worldwide Corporation (the “Company”) has acquired an choice proposal to acquire the Company’s STX Enjoyment subsidiary as part of its formerly disclosed go-shop method less than a definitive sale agreement the Corporation entered into with The Najafi Businesses on December 6, 2021,” the filing reads. “The Business is actively evaluating the proposal and will difficulty an update as and when proper. There can be no assurance that this method will ultimately consequence in a superior proposal or the sale of STX Leisure.”

Robert Simonds’ STX Entertainment, which is at the rear of hits these kinds of as “Greenland” and “Bad Mothers,” merged with Eros as ErosSTX in 2020 adhering to a studio document $319 million box place of work fueled by 2019 hits like Jennifer Lopez’s “Hustlers” and “The Upside.”

But the business also unveiled quite a few flops in 2019, together with “UglyDolls” (which grossed just $20 million domestic) and was strike challenging by the pandemic amid creation delays and a deficiency of curiosity in the couple of films it did deal with to launch. ErosSTX grossed just $8.8 million from 4 films in 2021, with $6 million coming from the abroad gross of the genuine story Guantanamo Bay drama “The Mauritanian.”

Lionsgate has been proposed for years as an M&A goal for decades, and in November declared that it was discovering the sale of its quality cable outlet and streaming provider Starz.

Selection initial described the information of the talks.