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SEC fines Lions Gate $7.5 million for bond-equity swap in takeover defence against Icahn

WASHINGTON – The Securities and Exchange Commission levied a $7.5 million fine against movie studio Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. for failing to properly disclose its role in a complex debt-equity swap that helped it fend off a hostile takeover bid from Carl Icahn in 2010.

The SEC said Thursday that Lions Gate had agreed to pay the fine and admitted wrongdoing.

A Lions Gate spokesman declined to comment.

The commission said that the company orchestrated the move to put about 9 per cent of company shares in the hands of a director friendly to management. The agency says such a large sale of stock would have required the approval of other shareholders.

Lions Gate had already accounted for the cost of the fine in its third quarter earnings ending in December.

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