More about MGM’s worsening finances

Bloomberg.com has a story today (Jan. 21) providing more details about the deteriorating finances at MGM, which controls half of the James Bond franchise. The story by Kristen Haunss and Sarah Rabil starts thusly:

Jan. 21 (Bloomberg) — Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.’s $3.7 billion term loan has fallen about 5 cents on the dollar this month, according to people familiar with the market, as analysts said the Los Angeles film studio may fetch less than expected.

MGM’s term loan traded at about 60.75 cents on the dollar yesterday in New York, said the people, who declined to be identified because the trades are private. It traded at 65.25 cents on Jan. 4, one person said.

The story quotes an Matthew Harrigan, a Denver-based analyst with Wunderlich Securities as estimating MGM is worth $1.6 billion to $1.7 billion. Bloomberg says MGM’s creditors were hoping for at least $2 billion when the studio put itself up for sale.

To read the entire story, JUST CLICK HERE.

UPDATE: The Wall Street Journal, on its Web site, has an update about MGM bidding that begins:

The first round of bids for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer turned out a shade better than expected, but the offers aren’t close to covering the $3.7 billion that is owed to lenders.

Bids ranged between $1.5 billion and $2.5 billion, according to people with knowledge of the situation, and MGM has begun to explore how it could stage a streamlined “prepackaged” bankruptcy as part of the auction.

The story can be found by CLICKING RIGHT HERE. Be warned, the WSJ is a mostly pay site. You can see a short free preview but you have to subscribe to access the whole thing.