MPD sold for $193 million

Movie Distribution Income Fund is selling its 49 percent stake in Motion Picture Distribution LP to Edgestone, a private Canadian equity firm affiliated with U.S. equity giant, Goldman Sachs & Company. MPD's collection of over 1200 titles spans nearly half a century, making it the single largest library of Canadian film and television content.

The remaining 51 percent of MPD is controlled by Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc., which is being sold for $2.3 billion to CanWest Global Communications Corp. and Goldman Sachs; both sales provide ample opportunity for MPD to be controlled by a foreign company.

The deal still needs to be approved by Heritage Canada, but, according to Lloyd Wiggins, the chief financial officer of Movie Distribution Income Fund, there is "no suggestion of concern at this point".

Last week, a number of outraged filmmakers and producers (including Atom Egoyan, David Cronenberg, and Robert Lantos) expressed dire proclamations about what would happen to the Canadian film industry, should MPD be controlled by a U.S. company.


[via the Globe and Mail]