Amid a severe downturn on Wall Street and downward pressure on valuations, a $700 million deal for Ron Howard and Brian Grazer’s Imagine Entertainment to sell to a British investment firm has slowed to a halt, TheWrap has learned.
London-based investment firm Centricus Asset Management Ltd. was in negotiations to acquire a majority ownership stake in a deal that would value the production banner at anywhere between $600 million and $800 million, The Wall Street Journal reported in January. But despite a flurry of merger and acquisition activity throughout the media sector in recent years, talks between the two companies have cooled, according to an individual with knowledge of the firm.