Lantern Capital’s stalking horse bid for The Weinstein Company received court approval Tuesday, prevailing over a last-minute offer for the bankrupt studio that included a victim’s fund.
US Bankruptcy Court in Delaware approved Lantern’s offer of $310 million cash, plus $115 million in assumed debt, even though the Dallas-based private equity firm lacks experience in the entertainment business.
The decision quashed a $325 million offer from theatrical producer Howard Kagan’s Inclusion Media, which promised a $30 million fund for victims of TWC co-founder and alleged sexual predator Harvey Weinstein.
Inclusion, which missed the April 30 bidding deadline by a day, had asked for an extension to create what called “the most diverse and progressive film and TV studio in the industry.”
It also vowed that Weinstein’s victims, in addition to the proposed fund, would receive a 5 percent stake in the new company.
But in court papers filed Monday, TWC described the Inclusion bid as a “purported offer [that] lacked all of the criteria of a real offer and appeared calculated to disrupt the Lantern sale process, rather than to materialize into a legitimate bid.”
A lawyer for TWC was even more adamant at Tuesday’s hearing, reminding the court that if a deal couldn’t be approved before midnight, Lantern had walking rights.
Deadline, in its coverage of court proceedings, quoted TWC lawyer Paul Zumbro: “We are concerned there would be significant value erosion if the Lantern Capital claim doesn’t move forward.”
Refusal to support Inclusion’s offer put TWC at odds with its committee of unsecured creditors – a group that included representatives for two alleged Weinstein victims.
The studio, which filed for bankruptcy on March 19, even accused counsel to one of those members of taking “to the press, making disparaging statements about Lantern and the debtors’ sale process.”
Despite the opposition of some of its members, the committee did not object in court to TWC’s sale to Lantern.



