Hollywood producer Dan Mintz agrees to buy Carlyle stake in Taiwan broadcaster (updated)

Everflow Resources

23/11/2015 03:59

* Deal valued at US$600 mln - LA Times 
    * Carlyle has tried to exit investment since 2013 
    * Subject to Taiwan regulatory approval 
    * Shares of EBC, DMG Entertainment both jump 10 pct 
 
 (Recasts, adds comments from film producer Mintz) 
    By Faith Hung 
    TAIPEI, Nov 23 (Reuters) - U.S. film maker Dan Mintz has 
agreed to buy Carlyle Group's  CG.O  61 percent stake in 
Taiwan's Eastern Broadcasting Corp (EBC) for an undisclosed sum, 
allowing the private equity firm to sell an investment it first 
tried to dispose of in 2013.  
     In a statement issued late on Sunday, Mintz, a co-executive 
producer of Hollywood action movie 'Iron Man 3' among others, 
said he was in the process of buying the stake without 
disclosing the deal's value nor the source of funding. The deal 
is subject to regulatory approval, he said. 
    The statement came after the Los Angeles Times reported 
Mintz told the paper he had agreed to pay $600 million in the 
deal, seeking to tap into EBC's potential China growth as a 
broadcaster of content in Mandarin. (http://tinyurl.com/nn7wj98) 
        
    Mintz is founder and chief executive officer of DMG 
Entertainment, a U.S.-based firm that is affiliated with 
Shenzhen-listed DMG Entertainment and Media Co  002143.SZ . 
    Carlyle officials weren't immediately available for comment. 
    The deal comes after Carlyle launched its latest bid to exit 
the holding last August jointly with EBC's second-biggest 
shareholder, Eastern Media International  2614.TW , for at least 
T$20 billion ($650 million). Carlyle's previous attempt to fetch 
as much as $700 million for the stake found no takers, people 
with knowledge of the matter said. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N10H1EI 
    By 0350 GMT, shares of Eastern Media, which owns 21.3 
percent stake of EBC, were up 10 percent in Taipei, while shares 
in DMG Entertainment and Media also climbed 10 percent in 
Shenzhen.  
     "As a media network EBC offers tremendous growth 
opportunities in digital, Mandarin-language content, premium 
content creation and distribution, which will become the anchor 
platform for ongoing global expansion of Mintz's businesses," 
the film producer said in his statement. 
     
 
 (Editing by Stephen Coates and Kenneth Maxwell) 
 ((faith.hung@thomsonreuters.com; 8862 2500 4893; Reuters 
Messaging: faith.hung.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: TAIWAN TELEVISION/M&A