Alliance take over gets ugly

From the Globe and Mail:

Unitholders of Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc.'s movie distribution business are demanding payment from the parent company unless they are given a say in the $2.3-billion takeover of Alliance by CanWest Global Communications Corp.

The request for financial damages, “in an amount to be determined” by a judge, is contained in court documents filed Thursday by a special committee representing investors in the Movie Distribution Income Fund.

Those unitholders represent the 49 per cent of Alliance's film distribution subsidiary that is publicly traded as an income trust.