The Lionsgate-MGM drama is turning into a Hollywood thriller that few in the entertainment capital would believe is real.
Twenty-four hours before MGM creditors will vote on a possible management deal with production company Spyglass Entertainment, Lionsgate slapped Carl Icahn with a lawsuit and branded him a “corporate raider” playing a “double game” of trying to delay a merger with MGM until he can buy enough debt in the ailing studio to make the corporate marriage more profitable for himself.
The suit, filed yesterday in Manhattan federal court, accuses Icahn and his son Brett Icahn of “misleading Lionsgate and its shareholders” by promising not to pursue the MGM merger if they tendered their shares to him.
Icahn, the suit charges, called Lionsgate’s management’s bid for MGM “delusional,” and describing it as “tying together two one legged men.” Simultaneously though, Icahn was “amassing a huge position in MGM debt with the undisclosed intention of reaping profits from both sides in an eventual merger.”
Before the ink was dry on Lionsgate’s out-of-left-field suit against its partner, a source close to proceedings said the producer of the “Saw” franchise and “Mad Men” would continue to work towards a merger with MGM as planned.
Reps for Lionsgate declined comment. Icahn did not return calls for comment.
Elsewhere, the momentum appears to be swinging behind acceptance of MGM’s recommended plan to partner with Spyglass in a pre-packaged bankrupcty. The deadline for votes is this evening.
One source close to the proceedings told The Post, they would vote with the Spyglass plan because, “Carl is simply trying to steal this company. There is no reason he can’t show an interest at a later date.” Separately, an MGM debtholder, who is not on the steering committee, confirmed that a handful of fellow lenders would also vote in favor of the Spyglass proposition.
That plan has Spyglass chiefs Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum taking over management of MGM and overseeing a bankrupcty that would wipe out MGM’s $4 billion of debt, while leaving creditors with 95 percent of the company. catkinson@nypost.com