Weinstein Co. Sale Price Cut From $310 Million to $287 Million

By Gene Maddaus

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – The Weinstein Company has agreed to reduce its sale price to Lantern Capital by $23 million, as doubts have been raised about whether the deal can close.

Paul Zumbro, the lead attorney for the company, announced in Delaware bankruptcy court Friday that the company had agreed to reduce the agreed price from $310 million to $287 million. Zumbro said the concession was necessary in order to get Lantern to close the deal. Lantern will also assume more than $100 million in project-based debt.

A bankruptcy judge approved the sale in May. But the closing process has dragged out longer than expected. Earlier this month, Zumbro projected that the deal would close by the end of June. In court on Friday, Zumbro said the deal will now close by July 14.

The price cut will hurt creditors who hope to recoup some of their debts. Robert Feinstein, an attorney for the committee of unsecured creditors, told Judge Mary Walrath that he would oppose the reduction.

“The ox that’s being gored here is the unsecured creditors,” he said. “The committee is not on board with this. We think it’s totally inappropriate.”

The unsecured creditors committee represents trade creditors as well as alleged victims of Harvey Weinstein’s sexual abuses.

The reasons for the price reduction were not immediately clear. Zumbro said if the sale does not close by June 29, Lantern will cover the company’s carrying costs thereafter.

“We are at the point where we absolutely need to get this deal closed,” Zumbro said.

is a Dallas-based private equity fund. The co-founders, Andy Mitchell and Milos Brajovic, have held introductory meetings with the Weinstein Co. staff in Los Angeles and New York. The pair have yet to fully lay out their plans for the new company.

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