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Interesting article;

Alliance Atlantis put up for sale by controlling shareholder


Denis Seguin in Toronto 20 December 2006



Alliance Atlantis Communications (AAC) is for sale. The Canadian entertainment company announced last night that its controlling shareholder, Southhill Strategy, has been "exploring strategic alternatives". Southhill is owned by AAC executive chairman Michael MacMillan and former AAC executive Seaton McLean, two of the founders of the original company, Atlantis Communications. The move comes two months after AAC announced its intention to seek a buyer for its releasing arm, Motion Picture Distribution (MPD).

In a statement, AAC said Southill had recently sought expressions of interest from selected potential buyers. It said Southill has not arrived at a decision but that if it does not sell its controlling stake, a sale of AAC is unlikely. It was not immediately clear whether the AAC sale would include MPD.

As well as its releasing assets - MPD controls Momentum Releasing in the UK and Aurum in Spain - AAC owns 13 specialty TV channels and is the worldwide distributor of the hit television franchise CSI: Crime Scene Investigation outside the US. Speculation on potential buyers pointed to CanWest Global Communications and Montreal-based Astral Media, which operates pay TV services and specialty French-language channels, and Canada's two largest cable operators Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications. The buyer is likely to be Canadian given restrictions imposed on foreign ownership of broadcast assets.

AAC has retained RBC Capital Markets as its financial advisor and Bennett Jones LLP as its legal advisor.