Leading offshore law firm Appleby is acting as Isle of Man counsel to STX Filmworks, Inc. (STX Entertainment), on its stock-for-stock merger with Eros International Plc.
Pursuant to the merger, which was announced on 17 April 2020, STX Entertainment shares will be converted into contractual contingent value rights that will be settled for Eros A Ordinary Shares approximately 75 days after the effective time of the merger, in what is believed to represent the first example of an Isle of Man company issuing contingent value rights.
The merger-of-equals transaction, which is subject to regulatory approvals and closing conditions and is expected to close in the second calendar quarter of 2020, will create a pre-eminent global media company with unique resources and capability to develop, produce and distribute Bollywood and Hollywood premium content at scale and across platforms.
STX Entertainment is a fully-integrated global media company specialising in the production, marketing, and distribution of talent-driven motion picture, television and multimedia content. It is the first major entertainment and media company to be launched at this scale in Hollywood in more than 20 years.
Eros International Plc (NYSE:EROS) is a Global Indian Entertainment company that acquires, co-produces and distributes Indian films across all available formats such as cinema, television and digital new media. It was the first Indian media company to list on the New York Stock Exchange.
The Appleby team was led by corporate partner Garry Manley. Kirkland & Ellis LLP acted as lead counsel to STX Entertainment with a team that included partners Rick C. Madden, P.C. and Jennifer Yapp and associates Michael Chung and Shelby Lindholm.
Appleby regularly works with FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 companies around the globe to help them deploy strategic growth and restructuring initiatives, whether involving single jurisdictions or complex multi-jurisdictional, multi-disciplinary transactions.