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 beefing up its balance sheet as it becomes a bigger player in Hollywood.

The Burbank company headed by Chairman Thomas Tull 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 deal will join together a mix of previous investors — including Accel Partners and Fidelity Investments — with well-known institutions and private investors new to Legendary. It will value Legendary at nearly $1.5 billion and is expected to be completed in the next few weeks.

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 picture “Pacific Rim” and the historical adventure movie “The Seventh Son,” both of which come out in 2013. Legendary has also recently launched television and comic book production divisions.

This year, in addition to “Titans,” which cost about $150 million to make after tax credits, Legendary is co-financing July’s Batman sequel “The Dark Knight Rises,” whose production budget is more than $250 million. Although Tull’s company usually gets a 50% stake in the films which it co-funds with Warner Bros., it has a 25% stake in director Christopher Nolan’s third and final “Batman” movie.

The partnership over “The Dark Knight Rises” was the subject of a tense negotiation between Tull and Warner film group president Jeff Robinov last year. Because it is expected to be a hugely successful blockbuster — “The Dark Knight” grossed $1 billion in 2008 — Robinov did not want to give away a big piece of the profit, while Tull saw participation as crucial to his company’s success and its public image as a maker of high-profile fanboy-oriented films.

Tull did not respond to an email requesting comment about his pending round of financing.

At the same time his firm is raising money in the U.S., Tull is setting up a China venture called Legendary East that will finance movies in that country intended for a global audience. But Legendary East was unable to close a planned $220.5-million capital raise on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange last year through a shell company.

“Legendary East expects to announce its financial and distribution arrangements later this year,” a Legendary East spokeswoman said in an email. “On December 31, 2011, the date pre-arranged by Legendary and its partners, Legendary East allowed its previously contemplated business structure to lapse, enabling it to explore relationships with new distribution and financial partners.”

ben.fritz@latimes.com