Lions Gate Entertainment Corp, the studio behind the "Hunger Games" movies, was hit with a shareholder lawsuit on Friday that alleges it fraudulently concealed a U.S. regulatory probe into whether it deceived shareholders as it fought off a hostile takeover by billionaire Carl Icahn. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, claims that shareholders suffered losses after Lions Gate , which also produces TV shows such as "Mad Men," on March 13 agreed to pay $7.5 million and admit wrongdoing to settle the probe by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.That accord was the first time in roughly three decades that the SEC had brought an enforcement case against a target of a hostile tender offer. Lions Gate's share price fell 8.8 percent in the three trading days after the settlement.A Lions Gate spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Lions Gate is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, and has offices in Santa Monica, California.The SEC case arose from a series of transactions in July 2010 that boosted the ownership stake of a management-friendly director, Mark Rachesky, and diluted Icahn's stake.
Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. (Lionsgate) is a global entertainment company with a diversified presence in motion picture production and distribution, television programming and syndication, home entertainment, family entertainment, digital distribution, new channel platforms and international distribution and sales. Shares of LGF traded higher by 0.53% or $0.15/share to $28.58. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $24.54 and as high as $37.81. On average, 1680360 shares of LGF exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 582890.
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