Irell & Manella, a firm based in California, has advised China’s Dalian Wanda Group on its $3.5 billion cash acquisition of U.S. production and finance company Legendary Entertainment, which tapped Latham & Watkins for advice.
Legendary’s board of directors turned to Simpson Thacher & Bartlett for legal advice while asset management firm Lazard, the board's financial advisor, tapped Sullivan & Cromwell for representation.
Wanda is China’s biggest commercial real estate business and operates the largest cinema chain in the world. Legendary is a Hollywood studio that has film, TV, comics and digital units, producing global top-grossing movies such as the Superman reboot Man of Steel and the monsters-vs.-robots fight fest Pacific Rim.
Los Angeles partners Joshua Grode and Mitchell Cohen headed the Irell & Manella team, while L.A.-based partners Joseph Calabrese, Robert Haymer and David Zaheer led Latham’s team.
STB’s Palo Alto-based partners Michael Nooney and Katharine Moir handled the transaction while Sullivan & Cromwell Los Angeles partner Alison Ressler advised Lazard.
The transaction turns Wanda chairman Wang Jianlin, China's wealthiest man, into a Hollywood movie mogul and gives the company the distinction of being the first Chinese firm to own a major studio in Tinseltown. At a press conference in Beijing, Jianlin said Wanda was buying Legendary for its film portfolio and intellectual property reasons.
After the acquisition, Legendary CEO Thomas Tull will retain his post. Meanwhile, investors in Legendary – Tokyo-headquartered multination SoftBank Group and investment firm Waddell & Reed – are putting up their stakes for sale.
