Bankruptcy Court Approves Relativity Sale to UltraV Group

Studio says creditors will be paid in full and unsecured creditors should see “meaningful recoveries”

Relativity Media said on Thursday that a bankruptcy court has approved the sale of the beleaguered film studio to the UltraV Group.

“Court approval of the sale today ends four difficult years for Relativity and marks a new beginning for the company,” said Relativity’s chief restructuring officer Colin Adams in a statement. Adams also serves as managing director at restructuring advisory firm M-III Partners. “Relativity’s administrative and priority creditors will be paid in full and unsecured creditors, including creditors from prior cases, will see meaningful recoveries, funded in part by the company’s successful partnership with Netflix. We wish UltraV much success as they renew and grow Relativity Media.”

Relativity filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for a second time in May and had an agreement to sell to all of its assets to UltraV — a joint venture of funds managed by Sound Point Capital Management and RMRM Holdings.

The price of the sale wasn’t disclosed.

Sound Point Capital Management, one half of the UltraV joint venture, is a New York-based asset management firm with approximately $17 billion of assets under management. And partnering firm RMRM is led by David Robbins, former Chairman of Bally Technologies, veteran media industry advisor Lex Miron, and Larry Robbins, a media industry executive.

In its May filing with the court, Relativity said it had somewhere between $500 million and $1 billion in debt, compared with $10 million-to-$50 million in assets.

Relativity founder and former CEO Ryan Kavanaugh is working with UltraV as a consultant. Kavanaugh currently has no stake in the company, but if the company’s valuation reaches $150 million or above, his incentive package grants him a 10% equity stake as well as a $5 million bonus.

A spokesman for UltraV told TheWrap: “We are pleased with the result of the court process and look forward to closing the purchase of Relativity.”

As part of its bankruptcy sale, Relativity settled its long-running licensing dispute with Netflix on Aug. 2.

The studio’s distribution deal with Netflix had been one of the studio’s most prized assets. The output deal was set to end at the end of this year.

In a statement at the time, Adams said: “The settlement helps preserve the value of the Relativity estate for creditors, paving the way for the asset sale to UltraV Group, and granting UltraV the unquestionable right to stream up to 30 films on Netflix. We look forward to closing the sale to UltraV and winding down the Relativity estate.”

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