Santa Monica Pictures, LLC, Perry Lerner, Tax Matters Partner - Page 197

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          a commitment for an additional $190 million, 3-year revolving               
          credit facility ($190 million facility).17                                  
               In light of Credit Lyonnais’s escalating financial exposure            
          and MGM’s dwindling business prospects, Credit Lyonnais                     
          formulated a business strategy for MGM which included:                      
          (1) completely replacing the company’s management; (2)                      
          restructuring MGM’s finances to replenish its equity capital and            
          to significantly reduce the weight of its debt; and (3)                     
          establishing a 5-year business plan intended to reposition MGM              
          among the film industry’s “major players” and to increase the               
          value of its assets, particularly through an intensive program of           
          new film production.18                                                      
               In July 1993, MGM began a comprehensive restructuring of its           
          capital structure and its corporate management (the 1993                    
          restructuring).  This restructuring consisted primarily of                  
          splitting MGM into two entities.  The goal was to set up a                  
          separate operating company which would be capitalized with $1               
          billion in equity and would have sufficiently reduced liabilities           
          to allow additional borrowing from lenders other than Credit                
          Lyonnais.  MGM was renamed MGM Group Holdings Corp. (MGM Group              


               17 The name of this agreement did not necessarily control              
          the amount that was advanced under the agreement.                           
               18 Credit Lyonnais selected a 5-year business plan because             
          of U.S. laws requiring the bank to divest itself of MGM within 5            
          years of acquisition.                                                       





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