Legendary Entertainment nears raising $250 million in financing
Legendary Entertainment, the finance and production company behind “The Dark Knight” and this weekend’s”Wrath of the Titans,”is close to raising about $250 million in new financing, according to knowledgeable people unauthorized to speak publicly.
The money, split evenly between equity and debt, will be used to refinance the Burbank company’s existing debt and to invest in upcoming movies and other content.
The new financing values Legendary at nearly $1.5 billion. It is expected to be completed in the next few weeks.
The deal will join a mix of previous investors -- which have included Accel Partners and Fidelity Investments -- with well-known institutions and private investors new to Legendary, which is headed by Chairman Thomas Tull.
Reached by email, a spokesman for Legendary and Tull declined to comment.
Legendary has in the past exclusively co-financed movies developed by Warner Bros., such as “Superman Returns” and “The Hangover.” But it has recently begun overseeing the production of its own films, including Guillermo Del Toro’s big-budget tentpole “Pacific Rim” and the historical adventure movie “The Seventh Son,” both of which come out in 2013.
-- Ben Fritz, Los Angeles Times