Private equity firm Lantern Capital is nearing a deal to acquire the Weinstein Company, the TV and film studio whose former chairman Harvey Weinstein faces sexual assault claims, with a $310 million offer, Reuters reported. The Weinstein Company filed for bankruptcy in March with the offer from Lantern Capital in hand as the stalking-horse bidder. It had hoped to get better offers from other suitors, but no higher bid emerged by a deadline set in a bankruptcy auction for yesterday. The deal, which is subject to approval by a U.S. bankruptcy judge, would be the culmination of efforts by the Weinstein Company over several months to find a buyer. An offer for the studio from a group of investors led by former Obama administration official Maria Contreras-Sweet failed to produce a deal earlier this year, after New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman filed a civil lawsuit against the company and demanded more compensation for Harvey Weinstein’s victims. Read more.
In related news, Ashley Judd sued Harvey Weinstein yesterday, opening a new legal battlefront for the disgraced film producer by claiming that her career withered because he spread lies about her in Hollywood after she rejected his sexual requests, the New York Times reported. Judd has an A-list director on her side: Peter Jackson, who came forward in December to say that he removed her from a casting list “as a direct result” of what he now thought was “false information” provided by Weinstein. Until then, according to the lawsuit, Judd did not know that “something unseen was holding her back from obtaining the work she wanted, and had been doing so for decades.” he suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, involves Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” films, the first of which was released in 2001. Jackson had wanted to cast Judd in a prominent role in the series. But Weinstein “torpedoed Ms. Judd’s incredible professional opportunity,” according to the complaint, by falsely telling Jackson that Judd was a “nightmare” who should be avoided “at all costs.” Read more.
