IMAX shares jump on potential Sale to Disney or Sony

[k5jm]

http://www.myfoxny.com/dpps/news/imax-share-price-jumps-on-sale-talk-dpgonc-km-20110101_11268260

Imax jumps on sale talk
By PAUL THARP
Last Updated: 1:18 AM, January 1, 2011

Big-screen theater chain Imax surged to new highs yesterday on reports that Sony Corp. and Walt Disney Co. were in joint discussions to acquire it for $40 a share -- more than double its average annual market price.

In trading of 17 times the usual daily volume, investors pushed up the Toronto company by 20 percent before its shares settled at $28.07, up 5 percent.

Imax said it was puzzled by the sharp run-up because it was "not aware of any corporate developments" that would explain the rally, adding that it doesn't comment on market rumors.

Reports of the joint deal appeared on Canada's Business News Network, which quoted media analyst Porter Bibb, managing partner at MediaTech Capital Partners, as confirming the Sony-Disney collaboration on an acquisition of the projector and screen vendor at $40 a share. At that price, a deal would be valued at about $2.6 billion, well above its current market cap of $1.8 billion. Imax operates large, high-tech screens and projectors at more than 400 major theaters, and has told analysts it expects a rapid expansion in China, with as many as 1,200 new locations.

 

[*NikkiBell*]

Interesting!