beIN Media Group: exclusive negotiations to acquire the US film studio Miramax (press)

The Qatari broadcasting group beIN Media Group has entered into exclusive negotiations with the shareholders of Miramax for the acquisition of the American film studio, reported Bloomberg on 16/11/2015. A sale "could occur by the end of 2015," said a source in the American media.

The US bank Morgan Stanley is been tasked by the shareholders of Miramax, since early September 2015, to find new owners for the studio, which has a catalogue of over 700 films, including 68 awards at the Oscars, such as "Shakespeare in Love", "Pulp Fiction", "Good Will Hunting" and "Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2".

QIA (Qatar Investment Authority), which owns a 75% stake in Miramax, and Colony Capital, which owns the remaining 25%, expect to accrue $1bn from the sale of the studio (€936m as of 18/11/2015), that they had acquired (along with other investor parties) with The Walt Disney Company for $660m in 2010 (€508m at the time).

• Disney bought Miramax in 1993 from the brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein, who founded the studio in 1979.
• beIN Media Group launched the "beIN Movies" channels in 24 countries in the…