James Bond producers join Sahara bid for MGM

The Broccoli family, producers of the James Bond movies and co-owners of the franchise with Metro- Goldwyn-Mayer Inc, are involved in Sahara India Pariwar’s $2 billion bid to buy the debt-laden studio, said a person with knowledge of the offer. Barbara Broccoli and her stepbrother Michael G Wilson are part of the Sahara India offer and would receive an undisclosed equity stake in MGM if it succeeds, said the person, who sought anonymity because the discussions are private.

It wasn’t clear whether Broccoli and Wilson would have a management role in the Los Angeles-based studio, the person said. Sahara India, based in Lucknow, offered $2 billion for MGM's more than $3.7 billion in debt, the Associated Press reported on September 17.

The overture comes as MGM's creditors are scheduled to vote this week on a pre-packaged bankruptcy plan to restructure the company's debt by converting it to equity in a merger with Hollywood producer Spyglass Entertainment. Sahara India has interests in finance, infrastructure and housing, media, consumer products, manufacturing and services, according to its website. Its entertainment operations include cable-television channels, film production and cinema chains. The talks involve Sahara India's "mutual interest" with MGM, Abhijit Sarkar, head of corporate communications at Sahara India Pariwar, said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. He declined to add to the statement today, saying "it's too early to comment on the issue." Susie Arons, an outside spokeswoman for MGM, declined to comment, as did Stephanie Wenborn, a spokeswoman for the Broccolis' London-based EON Productions. Under MGM's pre-packaged bankruptcy plan that creditors will vote on, Spyglass Entertainment co-chairmen Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum, who produced The Sixth Sense and Seabiscuit, would operate the studio and swap the rights to their film library for a five per cent stake in the new company.