Perelman Snaps Up Panavision Shares

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Shares of Panavision Inc. more than doubled on Monday after its chairman, billionaire Ronald Perelman, said he wanted to buy all the publicly traded stock he doesn’t already own in a likely bid to take the company private.


The $8 a share offer by a subsidiary of Perelman’s MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc. was disclosed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing late Friday. Shares of the Woodland Hills-based movie camera maker rose $5 to $8 in over-the-counter trading this morning. The purchase would include shares held by Sony Electronics Inc.


Perelman’s PX Holding owns approximately 96.3 percent of Panavision’s common stock through PX Holding. Sony is the next largest holder at 1.8 percent, followed by several institutional investors.


The company said its board of directors formed a special committee of independent directors to consider the proposed transaction, and has filed with the SEC to deregister its common stock.


Panavision announced on April 18 that it had entered into a $345 million loan agreement, arranged with Credit Suisse and Bear Stearns, to give it cash to refinance debt and fund an expansion. The company, which had $301.3 million of debt at the end of 2005, also paid $15 million in cash and issued shares to help retire a principal balance of about $64.8 million on an existing loan.

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