Paramount Securing Gulf Funds For WBD Deal

David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance is reportedly nearing a deal to secure nearly $24 billion in funding commitments from three Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds to back the company’s takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery.

According to The Wall Street Journal and Variety, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) agreed to provide around $10 billion to Paramount. The state-controlled funds of Qatar and Abu Dhabi are reportedly providing the remainder of the $24 billion.

In earlier SEC filings, Paramount Skydance said those Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds “have agreed to forgo any governance rights – including board representation – associated with their non-voting equity investments”.

By doing so, it avoids falling under the purview of the Treasury Department’s CFIUS, which reviews foreign investments in American businesses for potential national security risks. Several U.S. senators have already decried the lack of a CFIUS national security review on the deal, and others have called on the FCC to do a ‘thorough review’ of foreign investors backing the proposed deal.

The $24 billion is only part of the $110 billion deal (including debt) by Paramount to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery. The deal still faces pending regulatory approvals in the U.S. and Europe, but the companies say they expect the deal to close by the end of the third quarter of this year.

Warner Bros. Discovery has set a special shareholders meeting for April 23rd, where the vote on the Paramount Skydance transaction will take place.

Source: Variety