Bronfman raises bid for National Amusements, Paramount stake to $6 billion, source says

By Dawn Chmielewski

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -Veteran media executive Edgar Bronfman sweetened his offer to $6 billion for National Amusements and a minority stake in Paramount Global, according to a person familiar with the matter.

He had previously offered $4.3 billion, according to Reuters sources. Shares of Paramount rose more than 2.3% after the market closed.

Paramount said on Wednesday it had received an acquisition proposal from Bronfman on behalf of a consortium of investors, but it did not disclose the terms.

The competing offer for the home of Paramount Pictures, the CBS broadcast network and cable networks such as MTV threatens to undo a planned acquisition by tech scion David Ellison and his firm Skydance Media.

Bronfman's new bid includes $3.2 billion in funds that can be used to pay down Paramount's debt or to purchase non-voting Paramount shares held by investors other than the Redstone family for $16 cash, the person said on condition of anonymity because the information was not public.

The board and the Bronfman-led investor group would decide how to allocate those funds, the person added.

That compares to Paramount's $8.4 billion agreement with Skydance, which committed $4.3 billion to buy Class B shares for $15 cash each. Ellison and his funding partners also pledged to provide a minimum of $1.5 billion to the company's balance sheet.

Skydance declined to comment and Bronfman did not respond to a request for comment.

Bronfman's investor group includes Fortress Investment Group and Jeff Ubben, founder and managing partner of Inclusive Capital Partners, according to an Aug. 19 letter seen by Reuters.

Cryptocurrency entrepreneur Brock Pierce and Kazakhstan investor Nurali Aliyev, previously part of the Bronfman group, were no longer listed among the investors in revised documents provided to Paramount's board, an Aug. 20 letter seen by Reuters showed. That document also included 65 names of other parties Bronfman approached to discuss joining his investor group.

Skydance and Paramount had agreed to a 45-day "go-shop" period, to allow the publicly traded media company to solicit and consider other offers.

A special board committee has extended Wednesday's deadline until Sept. 5 for Bronfman's consortium, Paramount said.

The Ellison-led group will have the opportunity to submit a counter-offer, the person said.

The Wall Street Journal was the first to report Bronfman's improved offer.

(Reporting by Dawn Chmielewksi in Los Angeles and Savyata Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur, Sandra Maler and Jamie Freed)