After months of unsolicited takeover bids from Carl Icahn, Lionsgate shareholders voted to confirm a shareholder rights plan -- a so-called "poison pill" provision -- that could effectively keep the activist investor at bay, at least for now.
According to Lionsgate, 58,871,449 shares -- or 55.7 percent -- voted for the plan, while 46,750,037 shares -- or 44.3 percent -- of shareholders voted against it. Excluding the Icahn Group’s votes, 70.4 percent voted in favor, while 29.6 percent voted against, Lionsgate said.
The total votes cast represent 91 percent of the company's shares.
“Today’s outcome demonstrates that Lionsgate shareholders are serious about protecting the value of their investment … from financially inadequate, opportunistic and coercive offers such as the one made by the Icahn Group,” Lionsgate said in a statement. “We urge shareholders to continue to reject the Icahn Group’s offer by NOT tendering their shares, and for those who have, to withdraw them.”
In yet another statement, Lionsgate reiterated that Icahn’s current offer -- of $7.00 per share -- is “financially inadequate, opportunistic and coercive.”
More to read:
Lionsgate Shareholders Reject Improved Icahn Offer
