The owners of Dick Clark Productions have scrapped a $1 billion deal to sell the the company to China’s Wanda Group after a month in escrow, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Eldridge Industries, the company that controls Dick Clark, announced Friday that it called off the agreement because Wanda “failed to honor its contractual obligations.”
A number of factors may have contributed to the failure of the deal, including the Chinese government’s crackdown on the outward flow of Chinese capital as well as Wanda’s internal concern that the $1 billion price tag was too high.
Guggenheim Partners, in a group with other investors, bought the production company for $380 million four years ago.
President Donald Trump’s protectionist rhetoric hasn’t helped either, since it’s put Chinese dealmaking in the U.S. under the microscope, the Times reported.
Beijing-based Wanda, which owns AMC Theatres, gained City Council approval late November for its $1.2 billion One Beverly Hills condo and hotel project. [LAT] — Cathaleen Chen