这一进展让派拉蒙历时数月、几经曲折的交易过程戛然而止。Billionaire Edgar Bronfman Jr. has abandoned the acquisition.
According to the Zhitong Finance APP, informed sources revealed that after the special committee of Paramount Global (PARA.US) requested the final quote to be submitted on Monday, billionaire Edgar Bronfman Jr. abandoned the acquisition. This move paves the way for the merger between Paramount Global and Skydance.
Initially, Bronfman thought he would complete the financing by the end of Tuesday, but the deadline was moved up by a day to give the special committee and their financial advisor Centerview Partners enough time to conduct due diligence on the acquisition. The special committee must decide whether Bronfman's bid is superior to the existing merger agreement with David Ellison's Skydance Media by this Wednesday. If so, Skydance will have four working days to match the offer.
This development abruptly ends the months-long and tumultuous trading process of Paramount.
At the last minute, Bronfman withdrew his bid, just a week ago, this media executive made an initial bid of $4.3 billion to acquire the majority shareholder of Paramount, Shari Redstone of National Amusements. The bid included acquiring a minority stake in Paramount.
Bronfman's bidding consortium includes institutions such as Fortress Investment Group, BC Partners' crediting division, and a group of high net worth individuals.
Informed sources revealed that some potential investors have withdrawn from the bidding in recent days, as they are concerned that specific details about financing may be disclosed to the public. Sources state that others have abandoned the bidding due to the tight timeframe for providing financial information.
Sources said that Bronfman originally planned to raise the offer to around $6 billion, but after some potential investors dropped out, the amount raised as of Monday was close to $5 billion. Sources said that Bronfman decided to withdraw the acquisition offer because his consortium was apparently unable to provide the documents to the Paramount special committee for review in a timely manner.
Sources said that Bronfman's initial bid was comparable to Skydance's bid.
Bronfman's withdrawal paves the way for the merger between Skydance and Paramount. The Paramount special committee announced on Monday evening that the 'go shop' bidding period had ended.
The transaction is expected to be completed in the first half of 2025, pending regulatory approval.
Paramount Pictures' stock price fell more than 7% at Tuesday's close, widening its year-to-date decline to 28%.