MGM Studio headed for sale

MGM may be the best known logo in the entertainment business, but the company seems headed for another possible garage sale.

Several sources say they expect that MGM will essentially be auctioned off within the next few weeks.

This would mean that a major, such as Time Warner, could buy the MGM-UA library while another entity might acquire the logo, and yet another deal could be made for United Artists. Sources speculated that Kirk Kerkorian, who has already bought and sold MGM twice, might buy the logo once again.

Last summer Harry Sloan was bounced as MGM’s CEO and Stephen Cooper, a specialist in restructuring companies (Krispy Kreme was one of his projects) started meeting with bankers with the aim of restructuring some $3.7 billion in debt. There was speculation that the combined assets of MGM may now yield as little as $1.5 billion in the present market.

The various equity owners of MGM, including several private equity firms, have already written down their $5 billion acquisition, which closed in 2004.

MGM’s library contains 4.000 titles, but some specialists in film libraries consider its list of titles to be geriatric.

Any sort of auction would need approval of a two-thirds majority of the bondholders, and a couple of the bondholders insist they have not been contacted as yet. Some sources believe a pre-packaged bankruptcy is still an option, and there is still an expectation that Time-Warner might make a last eleventh hour bid.

Neither Cooper nor MGM would comment.

MGM’s released only a remake of Fame this year. For 2010, it’s opening two comedies — Hot Tub Time Machine in March and The Zookeeper in October — and a remake of “Red Dawn in November.

Variety

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MGM studio buys more time with lender agreement

MGM studio buys more time with lender agreement

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Hollywood studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer has secured a forbearance agreement with its lenders, winning some breathing room and liquidity as it continues to grapple with looming debt payments.

The studio, which has enlisted a restructuring specialist to help turn it around, faces debt obligations of $3.7 billion stemming from its 2005 buyout, plus payments on a $250 million revolving credit facility due April 2010.

Home to a renowned film library, including James Bond movies, MGM said the forbearance agreement, which expires December 15, exempts it from interest payments of an undisclosed amount as it continues discussion with lenders to develop a new capital structure and support a long-term business plan.

“With the agreement in place, MGM has taken an important first step in ensuring that the company has enhanced financial stability and adequate liquidity to implement its business strategies,” the studio said in a statement.

“The company is appreciative of its lenders’ ongoing support. Under the terms of the agreement, MGM’s lender group has agreed not to enforce its rights or remedies arising as a result of the company’s request to not currently pay interest due on September 30, October 31, and November 30, 2009.”

Last month, MGM replaced chief executive Harry Sloan with a team that included turnaround expert Stephen Cooper and production boss Mary Parent, as the storied Hollywood studio struggles to reduce a crushing debt load.

Its debt mostly stems from its 2005, $2.85 billion buyout by a group including private equity firms Providence Equity Partners; TPG; DLJ Merchant Banking Partners, a unit of Credit Suisse; and Quadrangle Group; and media firms Sony Corp and Comcast Corp.

The group, which bought MGM from its majority owner Kirk Kerkorian, also assumed debt of about $2 billion.

Hollywood insiders believe MGM needs to be merged or sold to be successful. But asked if MGM was considering an outright sale, Parent recently told Reuters MGM was positioning itself for the long term as a production company.

Cooper and Parent, along with MGM Chief Financial Officer Bedi Singh, have been named “members of the office of the CEO.”

According to film financing experts, MGM’s operations have largely been funded recently by its library cash flow and access to $500 million of financing set up for its United Artists label, partly owned by movie star Tom Cruise.

MGM in May hired investment bank Moelis & Co to help refinance its debt and said it was talking with a steering committee of 140 creditors as part of the process.

Cash flow from MGM’s film and TV library operations finished 2008 down about 5 percent from a year ago, a source familiar with the matter previously told Reuters.

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MGM battling bondholders and bankruptcy; James Bond in limbo

The bad news continues for the debt-laden MGM Studios—home of the James Bond films.

According to new updates at Deadline Hollywood Daily, the studio has made a conference call plea with its ‘very loud and very upset’ bondholders in order to try and stave off the threat of bankruptcy.

The studio, which carries a burdening $3.7 billion in debt, is trying to work out a deal with the creditors to waive interest payments until February 2010. The company is in desperate need of $20 million in short-term cash flow to cover overhead, and an additional $150 million to get through the end of year and continue funding its projects, and to further start Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit (not having to make payments immediately provides the studio with some much-needed money to back their film production slate).

Several bondholders have threatened that they will let the studio fall into bankruptcy, since they would then be first in line to eventually get paid.

On the other hand, it is being argued by investment bankers that the immediate sale of MGM wouldn’t fetch more than $1.5 billion to $1.75 billion at auction—meaning that the bondholders would recover less than $.50 on the dollar.

Either way, bankruptcy would almost certainly mean the loss of the lucrative James Bond series, the crown jewel in MGM’s film catalogue, among many other film franchises.

Time will tell to see how things work out for the troubled studio. CommanderBond.net will keep you updated with all of the latest details.

Pinewood Studios considers move to the Far East

Pinewood Shepperton, the studio home of the cinematic James Bond series, is considering a move to the Far East.

According to the Telegraph, the company is examing the possibilities of opening a new studio location in China or a neighbouring country such as Malaysia, after increasing appetite from Hollywood for Asian film sets.

If given the go-ahead, the move would follow Pinewood’s recent expansion into Toronto with Pinewood Toronto Studios, which is currently used for film and high-budget television shoots.

In Pinewood Shepperton’s interim results statement, the company said: ‘In our market, the Pinewood brand is highly regarded and as part of our long term strategy, we continue to look to leverage its reputation by developing wider opportunities that benefit the group.’

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Motionless 007 takes top award in World Statue Championships

An actor posing as James Bond has taken the top award at the World Statue Championships in Amsterdam.

The BBC News reports that Chris Clarkson was named the public’s favourite human statue after posing as secret agent 007 along with his personal Walther PPK-inspired watergun. Clarskson had managed to stand nearly motionless for four hours at the event attended by about 300,000 people.

‘It’s hard work,’ said Clarkson, ‘my whole body had to be tense, but it’s great fun.’

‘My James Bond statue took nine months to create. The plinth I was stood on held all my water and I had pipes down my trouser leg to ensure the water fired out of the BB gun.’

He continued: ‘I made my own weapon by hollowing out the gun and creating a special circuit so the water would be pushed out when I pulled the trigger.’

‘People might think it’s boring, but it’s actually great fun. I was a little bit annoyed a couple of weeks ago when I was a tennis player in Leeds. Someone came and stubbed out a cigarette on me. That wasn’t too funny, but on the whole I get a really good reception from people.’

To view a photograph of Clarkson as James Bond, click here.

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Joshua Zetumer boards Bourne 4

The Hollywood Reporter reveals that uncredited Quantum of Solace scribe Joshua Zetumer has signed on to write a new script for the fourth instalment in Universal’s Jason Bourne series.

Zetumer was brought on board several months into filming of the latest James Bond pic to polish a script that was hurriedly put together by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Paul Haggis in anticipation of the 2008 Writers Guild of America strike.

The screenwriter will reportedly develop a “parallel script” after George Nolfi (The Bourne Ultimatum) crafted a preliminary script before leaving to work on another project. The fourth, as yet untitled Bourne film, is set for release in 2011.

Zetumer is also behind scripts for upcoming films Dune and The Infiltrator, to which Leonardo DiCaprio is attached. Quantum of Solace includes Zetumer’s only produced work to date.

Two months ago, it was announced that Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Paul Morgan will be the scripting team for the twenty-third James Bond film.

Pardon the heresy of mentioning that other spy with the initials J.B. – we now return you to your original spy programming.

MGM Studios replace CEO Harry Sloan

MGM Studios replace CEO Harry Sloan

Struggling Hollywood studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is turning to a restructuring expert who has helped businesses from energy to doughnuts to help it dig out from billions in debt.

The studio said Tuesday it hired Stephen Cooper, the former CEO of such ailing businesses as Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. and Enron Corp., to join an “Office of the CEO,” which replaces Chief Executive Harry Sloan.

Cooper, named vice chairman, joins Mary Parent, the chair of MGM’s worldwide motion picture group, and Chief Financial Officer Bedi Singh in the CEO office and has as his main task “to lead MGM’s efforts to evaluate alternatives to improve its balance sheet,” the studio said.

Sloan will continue as chairman.

The announcement comes as the studio faces the payback of $3.7 billion in debt by 2012, with payments due starting in mid-2011, and a $250 million revolving line of credit that matures in April.

The debt was amassed when the studio was taken private for nearly $5 billion in 2005 by a group led by Providence Equity Partners, Texas Pacific Group, Sony Corp. and Comcast Corp., DLJ Merchant Banking Partners and Quadrangle Group.

MGM told its lenders in May it was in compliance with its debt agreements as of March 31, but that it had hired financial adviser Moelis & Co. to help it restructure.

The studio has made about $500 million a year in revenue from its library of 4,000 movies and TV shows including a range of James Bond classics, but declining DVD sales have cut that by about 5 percent this year.

It also abandoned talks last year to continue selling its movies to CBS Corp.’s Showtime pay TV channel and instead took a 28.6 percent stake in Epix, a fledgling pay channel to be launched in October with Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. and Viacom Inc.’s Paramount Pictures.

Epix has so far struck just one deal with a distributor, Verizon Communications Inc.’s FiOS network, which has 2.5 million customers.

The last movie MGM released in theaters was Valkyrie, starring Tom Cruise, in December. It plans a handful of new releases in the coming months, including Fame next month and The Cabin In The Woods in February.

Sloan began his tenure at MGM in October 2005 and agreed last August to continue as CEO through October 2011, but was an apparent casualty of the collapse of the credit markets and an industrywide decline in home video revenue.

The studio has had a number of disappointments since its rebirth under private owners.

It brought in actor Cruise and producing partner Paula Wagner to head subsidiary United Artists, but their first movie, Lions for Lambs, flopped and was estimated to have lost $30 million. Wagner has since left the label to pursue projects independently.

Turning to an outside executive without special experience in the entertainment business is a sign the studio’s financial problems are quite severe.

Cooper had replaced Krispy Kreme’s CEO Scott Livengood in 2005 and helped the company sort out an accounting mess while reining in its overexpansion. Previous to that he spent three years at the helm of Enron a month after it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. His firm claimed it earned Enron’s creditors extra billions by holding off on selling assets immediately and shaving professional fees.

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Chris Blackwell going ahead with Goldeneye expansion

Chris Blackwell, current owner of Ian Fleming’s Goldeneye resort in Jamaica is going ahead with a $50 million expansion that will result in the creation of 11 beachfront cottages and a restaurant.

Full details follow below in the just-released press announcement:

Goldeneye, Birthplace Of 007, Eyes $50M Expansion

The luxurious Goldeneye retreat, where British author Ian Fleming created the literary and cinematic super spy James Bond, will undergo a $50 million expansion, the estate’s owner said Sunday.

Music and hotel mogul Chris Blackwell said in a statement that 11 beachfront cottages and a restaurant will be built at the sprawling property, which overlooks a harbor in St. Mary parish in eastern Jamaica.

Blackwell—who founded the Island Records label that launched Bob Marley to international stardom and who also owns luxury hotelier Island Outpost—said the work should be completed by 2013.

Fleming bought Goldeneye in the mid-1940s and wrote several books there, including Casino Royale, the first Bond novel. Fleming died in 1964, and some of his memorabilia are kept at the expanded site.

Several 007 movies including Live and Let Die and Dr. No were filmed near the estate, and it shares a name with the 1995 Bond film GoldenEye.

The property was also briefly owned by the late reggae great Marley, who bought Goldeneye in 1976 and sold it the following year to Blackwell.

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Burglary at Pinewood Studios

According to a report from the Bucks Free Press, a burglary occurred last Friday morning at Pinewood Studios—home of the James Bond films.

The burglars reportedly stole hi-tech recording equipment worth over £65,000 after cutting the padlock to the old entrance of the studios in Iver Heath. The thieves then drove two cars up to the props building and forced their way in by smashing windows and removing doors from their hinges.

Det Con Sebastian Wilson, of Thames Valley Police, said: ‘They stole various specialist cameras and lenses which are worth a lot of money. They have also stolen a Sony SRW 5000, a device which converts footage into high definition format, and is worth £65,000. They removed this item by force and will have damaged it in the process.’

‘The thieves were disturbed by a security guard who believes that one of the vehicles used was an expensive silver sports car, possibly a Lexus. They also had a second vehicle, which was dark in colour.’

The burglary happened between 12:25am and 12:35am. Police are appealing for witnesses and anyone who can their investigation should call Det Con Wilson on 0845 8 505 505 or the Crimestoppers charity on 0800 555 111.

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Residences for sale at Ian Fleming's Goldeneye estate

18 residences for sale at legendary Goldeneye, Ian Fleming’s estate in Jamaica

The late Ian Fleming’s former home has been lovingly developed into a private retreat, which blends effortlessly with the tropical environment. Set between coral reefs and tropical forests, just 18 beach cottages are now being offered for sale.

Ian Fleming

Signature Residences Worldwide has added Goldeneye in the Jamaica to its select list of luxury real estate for sale.

The18 cottages represent a unique opportunity to own a small part of the tropical paradise that inspired Fleming to write his famous James Bond novels. Fleming’s fascination and passion for Jamaica was well represented in his novels, and he often stated that without Goldeneye, James Bond would have never existed.

The Goldeneye estate was acquired in 1977 by Island Records’ founder and music mogul Chris Blackwell and has since then been turned into a the leading celebrity boutique hotel in the Caribbean.

Just 18 stunning, private oceanfront cottages

Goldeneye Jamaica has been a celebrity magnet for many years, even before the hotel was created. Fleming entertained here regularly and his guests included Michael Caine, Katherine Hepburn, Errol Flynn, Elizabeth Taylor to mention just a few. The hotel has continued attracting names such as supermodel Naomi Campbell, Johnny Depp, Sting, Bono. In fact, Sting wrote the hit song, “Every breath you take,” here – testament to the muse-like powers of the property. But this is the first and very limited opportunity for private ownership.

The residential development will extend over 52 acres of unspoiled, coastal land and be developed with minimal impact – only one residence per acre will be permitted, in keeping with Fleming’s preference for privacy. Phase 1 will offer just 18 stunning, fully furnished cottages, representing the ultimate in Jamaica luxury real estate.

Eleven beach cottages will be built on a 500 ft sandy crescent that is sheltered by a coral reef. Classic Caribbean designs combine with contemporary comforts to create the perfect island getaway, with external showers and jalousie shutters complementing the minimal impact approach.

Seven oceanfront Spa cottages will overlook the beautiful coral reef from a breathtaking cliff-side elevation. Located on the bluff between the Ian Fleming Villa and the new Spa, the cottages will be the centre of the Spa village, a serene enclave for those seeking the simplicity of nature and endless views.

Plots are on average 2,900-3,700 sq. ft. All cottages are available freehold with an optional rental programme with no limitations on owner occupation.

The Island and luxury real estate market

The Jamaica luxury real estate market has traditionally been a less active market than other Caribbean islands, meaning considerable cost savings. Comparable real estate on Barbados and the Bahamas tends to be more than twice as expensive.

The Island is still relatively un-developed with stunning natural beauty, including lush tropical vegetation, waterfalls and unspoilt, golden sandy beaches.

The Goldeneye Jamaica is situated on the North shore, two hours from Montego Bay airport and 2 1/2 hours from Kingston airport by car. Private aircraft and helicopters may land at Boscobel Aerodrome – just 10 minutes away.

Enjoy a wide range of exclusive and luxurious amenities

As an owner of a residence at Goldeneye, you will have access to a wide range of exclusive, luxurious services including a Spa which includes 5 oceanfront treatment rooms, Hamman, sauna, and yoga deck; 2 restaurants; a delicatessen, flood-lit tennis courts, secluded private beaches and a water sports centre. Jamaica offers some of the finest snorkeling in the world.

1-bedroom cottages range from US$750,000.

For more information about Goldeneye, contact Signature Residences Worldwide on +44 20 70958701 or visit www.signatureresidencesworldwide.com.

About Signature Residences Worldwide

Signature Residences Worldwide (www.signatureresidencesworldwide.com), a leader in the sale of luxury real estate enjoys a solid reputation around the world as a cutting-edge boutique real estate company. Part of W Real Estate Group (http://www.w-realestategroup.com), founded in London in 1999, International Luxury Real Estate is an owner-managed business that leverages decades of experience.

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