Lorimar Signs Pact to Acquire MGM Studio

Lorimar-Telepictures said Monday that it has signed a definitive agreement for its purchase of the historic MGM movie studio in Culver City and the Metrocolor film-processing laboratory. Lorimar also said that it, in turn, is selling the lab to a New York firm.

The lab is being bought by an entity whose owners include MacAndrews & Forbes Group, owner of Technicolor, another big Hollywood film processor.

As reported three months ago, Turner Broadcasting moved to break up its newly acquired MGM properties by selling the 44-acre movie lot and the film lab to Lorimar-Telepictures for $190 million, while selling the MGM film production and distribution and home videocassette business to United Artists for $300 million.

Lorimar-Telepictures stands to recoup about $72 million of the $190-million purchase price under a definitive agreement to sell the film-processing facility to a limited partnership called CSD Acquisition Corp. CSD is a partnership made up of Dalton Enterprises as general partner and MacAndrews & Forbes as limited partner, according to its spokesman, Larry Rand of Kekst & Co., New York.

Rand said MacAndrews & Forbes also owns Consolidated Cigar and 36% of the stock of Revlon. He said he does not know the background of Dalton Enterprises.

Lorimar-Telepictures said it will take over operation of the MGM lot upon completion of the purchase, expected in about 30 days.

The company said its purchase price from Turner breaks down to $160 million cash and “certain deferred obligations.” These may be satisfied by purchasing advertising time on Turner Broadcasting System over an eight-year period or by additional cash, not to exceed $30 million. The sale of the film lab to CSD involves $60 million in cash and 40% of the deferred obligation to Turner, Lorimar-Telepictures said.