Skydance rips rival Paramount bidder in court over alleged fraud and misrepresentation in $8.8B offer
Skydance is calling out a rival bidder for Paramount for allegedly attempting to derail the Hollywood studio’s merger with the media giant, claiming it has uncovered proof of “fraud” and “misrepresentation” in an $8.8 billion competing offer.Rival investor consortium Project Rise Partners has allegedly “fraudulently misrepresented itself” to the Delaware Chancery Court, according to letters from Skydance’s legal team reviewed by The Post.Counsel for Skydance included affidavits from Goldman Sachs and Aquarian Holdings in which they denied Project Rise’s claims that the firms were advisors and investors on the deal, respectively.Project Rise “has no formal business relationships with any of those entities,” lawyers for Skydance claimed in their letters, adding that “just 72 hours into its investigation” into Project Rise and the pension fund claims, it uncovered the alleged fraud and with more “formal discovery” it will likely unearth more.Skydance claimed that if Goldman and Aquarian are removed, all that remains is a “rag-tag consortium of small businesses masquerading as a group capable of supporting a multi-billion-dollar cash offer.”A rep for Goldman declined to comment.Aquarian did not respond to requests for comment.
The letters were sent to lawyers for Project Rise and New York City’s public pension funds, which sued to block the Skydance merger deal, whose exclusive terms have prevented Paramount from considering Project Rise’s bid claiming to be worth $8.8 billion plus an additional $5 billion for restructuring of debt.Lawyers for Project Rise and the New York City pension funds did not return requests for comment.“The attack by Skydance is outrageous and an effort to deflect from the real issue here.Project Rise Partners’ offer is superior to Skydance’s and would greatly benefit shareholders,” Project Rise told The Capitol Forum.
“We have the financial commitments to complete a transaction with Paramount Gl...