Chinese tycoon Wang Jianlin is said to be looking to sell a sizable stake in the Burbank, Calif.-based film studio.
Legendary Entertainment, the U.S. movie studio owned by Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group, has no interest in an investment from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund PIF.
“Legendary Management has no interest in conducting a transaction with PIF,” the studio said Thursday.
The comment came after a Reuters report citing unnamed sources that said PIF, short for “Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia,” was considering making a major investment in Legendary to the tune of $500 million-$700 million. The fund was in talks to hire a financial adviser to assist with the bid, Reuters said.
The Saudi fund has not held formal discussions with Legendary about the prospective investment, sources close to the studio said. It wasn’t clear though whether Wanda has held discussions with Saudi Arabia.
Since coming in to run Legendary at the end of 2017, CEO Josh Grode has focused on cleaning up its balance sheet.
CEO Josh Grode
Sources said that the firm has about $1 billion in resources and is not currently looking for funding. One source said that if it needed an investment for parent company Wanda, Saudi Arabia would not be where it would look for the money.
Wanda, led by Chinese billionaire Wang Jianlin, purchased Legendary at the eye brow-raising price of $3.5 billion in 2016. The Chinese firm once harbored ambitions of becoming a global leader in the entertainment sector, but has since shed international film and real estate assets under pressure from the Chinese government.
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