Jeff Robinov’s Studio 8 is seeking some $200 million of fresh capital. The cash is expected to be plowed in to projects as the company finally accelerates its production slate.
The fundraising effort is headed by boutique investment bank Raine Group, according to Bloomberg, which first reported the news.
Studio 8 is majority-owned by China’s Fosun International but remains under the management control of its founder, former Warner Bros. film division chief Robinov. He was recently joined by former Sony TV chairman Steve Mosko.
Sources close to Fosun confirmed the fundraising exercise to Variety and described it as “quite normal business practice.”
The source would not confirm whether Fosun itself would be putting up cash in the new fundraising round or whether it intended to allow its equity holdings to be diluted to a minority position. Fosun owns 80% of Studio 8’s A-class shares, which in turn amounts to 60% of the economic interest in the company.
“We are very confident in Jeff and his team,” the source added. “We are pretty happy to see all the projects they’ve developed. They have great potential.”
Started in 2014 with backing from Sony and Fosun, Studio 8 has released only one feature film of note, the Ang Lee-directed “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk.” It has two films scheduled for release in 2018, “White Boy Rick” and “Alpha.”
Fosun was among the Chinese companies leading an overseas acquisition boom that stretched from 2012 to 2016, before the capital outflow was stanched by government intervention. Fosun acquired stakes in Cirque du Soleil, Club Mediterranee and English soccer club Wolverhampton Wanderers, as well as a large property portfolio and a collection of insurance companies. In recent months, Fosun has sold a property development in Sydney, Australia, and bought a stakes in China’s Tsingtao brewery and Austria’s lingerie maker Wolford.
