Icahn extends offer to buy Lions Gate to June 16, drops condition for minimum number of shares

Icahn extends offer for Lions Gate to June 16

NEW YORK — Billionaire and activist investor Carl Icahn said Tuesday he will again extend his offer to buy Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., and removed the condition of the offer requiring at least 50.1 percent of shares to be tendered.

Icahn’s offer to buy Lions Gate’s outstanding shares now expires June 16. His most recent offer was to expire Tuesday. Icahn has extended the deadline several times.

Lions Gate said in a statement that its board will review the revised offer, which also drops the condition that 50.1 percent of shares must be tendered for the deal to go through.

Icahn owns almost 19 percent of Lions Gate shares and has been fighting for control of the movie and TV studio since March. He wants to rein in spending, says shareholders should vote on an acquisition and has argued against Lions Gate buying another studio and its library of older titles.

He raised his offer from $6 per share to $7 per share in March, but Lions Gate rebuffed it as too low.

As of Tuesday, Icahn said 4.7 million shares had been tendered, about 4 percent of the studio’s total outstanding shares.

Lions Gate shares rose 6 cents to $6.86 in afternoon trading.

Lions Gate is based in Vancouver, Canada, and operates out of Santa Monica, Calif. It was behind the Oscar-winning movie “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ By Sapphire.” It also owns the TV Guide network and produces TV shows including “Weeds” and “Nurse Jackie.”