Lions Gate wants Icahn to disclose ‘secret’ deal with MGM creditors

Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. said billionaire Carl Icahn must disclose a “secret” agreement he has with creditors of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. about a possible merger of the two studios.

The Santa Monica film and television studio wants to continue its lawsuit against Icahn even though he no longer is attempting to acquire Lions Gate, it said in a filing in U.S. District Court in New York late Thursday.

Lions Gate sued Icahn in December, saying he was “secretly plotting” to profit from merging the studio with MGM while telling investors the deal would be a “debacle.” Icahn should correct his misstatements about Lions Gate and pay damages for interfering in its plans, it said.

Icahn asked a judge to dismiss the suit, saying his takeover tactics were now irrelevant. Lions Gate said the New York financier “cannot escape responsibility for false and misleading” disclosures about his plans to “facilitate” a merger between the two studios.

Lions Gate also wants to know about Icahn’s “side deal” with another large shareholder of the studio, Mark Cuban, about buying his shares, it said.

According to Lions Gate’s lawsuit, Icahn offered Cuban, co-founder of the TV network HDNet and owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team, “special consideration” for his agreement to tender a 5.4% stake in Lions Gate to Icahn as he tried to acquire the studio.

After Icahn challenged an earlier Lions Gate suit, saying it was relying on an anonymous source for information about the alleged pact with Cuban, the studio amended its complaint to say the source was Cuban’s business partner Joe Francis, producer of the “Girls Gone Wild” DVD series.

Icahn didn’t immediately comment.