#SEPARATION STUDIO ALTERNATIVES MOVIE#
#SEPARATION STUDIO ALTERNATIVES SERIES#

Dave Bautista comedy My Spy went to Amazon, and the Gerard Butler action movie Greenland skipped theatrical for PVOD release and a pay-cable/streaming rights deal with HBO Max worth $20M to $30M. During the pandemic, with theaters shuttered, STX kept itself afloat by selling titles to streamers.

It also released the Bad Moms comedy franchise, which made close to $315M WW. STX had its biggest domestic opening and final box office showing in 2019 with the Jennifer Lopez outing Hustlers ($33M opening, $105M domestic). In a marketplace where streaming has put a premium on content, any seller is in an advantageous position, as Amazon’s $8.45 billion acquisition of MGM attests. Established suppliers like Imagine and Legendary are among many companies exploring various M&A scenarios.

#SEPARATION STUDIO ALTERNATIVES SERIES#

Private equity has been injected into a number of content suppliers of late in a series of high-priced deals, with companies like Moonbug Entertainment, Hello Sunshine and SpringHill all fetching sky-high valuations. The “go-shop period” of the acquisition agreement coincides with an M&A marketplace teeming with capital and opportunity. As a company, it also enjoyed an unusual degree of access to the lucrative Chinese market, by virtue of Tencent and Hony Capital being among its backers, along with TPG and Liberty Global. In short order, though, Covid-related production and distribution issues only added to the headaches of reconciling the Mumbai-based operations of Eros with Burbank’s STX.īefore the pandemic, STX prided itself on supplying the theatrical marketplace with low-cost, adult demo movies which had the potential to overperform. After the merger was revealed in the spring of 2020, the merged entity’s stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange that summer. The SEC also issued a warning to investors after STX Eros was late in submitting its annual report. In August, the stock began falling under $1, which triggered a review by the Securities and Exchange Commission. They were at about 37 cents a share, down 7%. Shares in Eros STX, whose market value has drifted down to about $150 million, continued their long-term slide in early trading. It is not clear yet whether Simonds, who serves as the CEO and Co-Chairman of Eros STX, will segue back to the studio.

We are also happy to exclusively partner with The Forest Road Company on this new and multi-faceted endeavor given their expertise and partnership approach.”

“First and foremost, we believe in the power of storytelling and fostering an entertainment studio that is artist-friendly and supportive of storytellers. “This is a complicated, international public company carve-out transaction, and after countless hours over the past several months, we are thrilled to announce this new chapter with STX,” said Jahm Najafi, Founder and CEO of The Najafi Companies. In making the acquisition, Najafi teamed with The Forest Road Company, a specialty finance platform whose investments include a majority stake in Vertical Entertainment. The Iranian-American businessman also has stakes in McLaren Racing, StubHub, the Mission Advancement SPAC with Colin Kaepernick, Tracee Ellis Ross’ Patten Beauty and Scarlett Johansson’s new skincare line. Najafi is also the partial owner of the Phoenix Suns and is the NBA team’s vice chairman. The Najafi Companies makes investments across the consumer, retail, ecommerce, sports, media, and technology spaces. ErosSTX shares had slipped below $1 for an extended period, triggering a warning from the SEC and a potential de-listing. Najafi’s rescue comes at a time when STX was facing a deadline to repay $127M in debt. Najafi’s acquisition will refinance the company’s debt and provide a significant investment in growth. The deal calls for an affiliate of Najafi to acquire STX Entertainment through the purchase of all of the issued and outstanding shares of common stock of a parent entity of STX Entertainment and a wholly –owned subsidiary of ErosSTX. The transaction is expected to close by the end of January 2022. Likewise, Najafi will be required to pay ESGC a termination fee of $4.5 million (less the $2 million deposit) if Najafi fails to close the transaction. If ErosSTX terminates the Najafi purchase agreement because it accepts a better offer, it will pay a termination fee of $4.5 million (plus the return of $2 million that Najafi has funded as a deposit) to Najafi. STX Shuttering UK Division Staff In Consultation

Separation studio alternatives