TORONTO – A court hearing on the proposed $2.3-billion takeover of Alliance Atlantis Communications by CanWest Global Communications Corp. and Goldman Sachs has been delayed yet again – this time until June 28.
The second change in date of the fairness hearing before the Ontario Superior Court was made at the request of Alliance Atlantis as talks continue over concerns around its Movie Distribution Income Fund.
One of the issues to be considered at the hearing is whether or not consent is needed from minority shareholder Movie Distribution Holding Trust before Alliance Atlantis sells its majority stake in the Movie Distribution Income Fund.
Movie Distribution Holding Trust put up a legal road block to the sale when it announced publicly on April 4 that it needed to agree to the sale.
The original date for the fairness hearing was May 18, but it was changed at the request of Alliance to June 18 on May 9. The hearing date was delayed again by almost another two weeks on Wednesday.
“Holding Trust, AA Acquisition Corp. and GS Capital Partners VI, L.P., with assistance from management of MPD and Alliance Atlantis, continue to engage in discussions,” said Alliance Atlantis executive vice-president and CFO David Lazzarato. “As I said previously, delaying the court date permits the discussions to continue. As we expect the arrangement to be completed in July or early August, we continue to believe there is ample time for this process to run its course. We are hopeful that the parties will reach a satisfactory understanding but, of course, we cannot currently predict its outcome.”
