Legendary Sells Minority Stake To Apollo For $760M, Regains Control As Wanda Pares Position

deadline.com:

Legendary Entertainment, the production company behind film franchises like Dune and Enola Holmes, has sold a minority stake to the private equity firm Apollo for $760 million.Under the deal, Legendary management will regain operational, strategic and creative control of the company.

Chinese giant Dailan Wanda will reduce its ownership position while remaining majority shareholder.In an interview with Deadline, Legendary CEO Josh Grode declined to provide a valuation for Legendary, saying the transaction did not center on it.

The exact percentage owned by Apollo was also not quantified, but was described in the official announcement as “significant.” Wanda bought Legendary for $3.5 billion in 2016.Grode has described fielding multiple inbound offers in recent months and said several scenarios were considered, including a full takeover or participation in a deal with a special-purpose acquisition company, or SPAC.

The media and entertainment sector has benefited seen a surge of investment of late, much of it private equity, aimed at capitalizing on the streaming boom and the hunger for content.