Image still mulling Lions Gate offer: as takeover target integrates exclusive Criterion distribution.(Image Entertainment Inc., Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.)

Video Business, October, 2005 by Ault, Susanne

Execs at Image Entertainment continue to review a recent takeover offer from Lions Gate Entertainment.

Lions Gate made a stock-based offer for Image on Sept. 14 that at the time was valued at $93 million. But since then, Lions Gate's share price has fallen from $10.40 to $8.50.

Analysts said the studio's recent theatrical films, including Nicholas Cage flop Lord of War, are working to depress share prices. Made for approximately $42 million, Lord of War has grossed about $22 million in the U.S. since its Sept. 16 bow.

Any acquisition offer also tends to deflate the acquirer's share price.

"If you asked me three weeks ago, I'd think a deal was likely to happen by the end of the year," Sanders Morris Harris' David Miller...

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