Strange Chinese Copper Mining Firm Buy of Hollywood Studio Scuttled

The announced US$350 million purchase of Voltage Pictures is off.

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One of the stranger Chinese acquisitions of a Hollywood property to be announced this year is not going forward. Anhui Xinke New Materials, which said in November that it planned to acquire an 80 percent stake in the parent company of Los Angeles-based Voltage Pictures for $350 million, has backed out of the deal, according to Reuters.

The central China-based company will instead acquire a 29.9 percent stake in Hong Kong-based Pegasus Entertainment for HK$194.2 million (US$25 million), the company said in a regulatory filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange, where it is listed.

Anhui Xinke stated the cancellation of the Voltage deal was due to the cancellation of a planned internal restructuring. However, the deal may have been impacted by a new policy of limiting overseas acquisitions by Chinese companies as a way of reducing capital outflow.

Pegasus Entertainment, which is listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong, is the parent companies of Pegasus Motion Pictures, is know for producing Donnie Yen’s Ip Man 3, and recent releases including S Storm, starring Louis Koo.

Voltage Pictures is most notable for producing Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker, which won the Best Picture Oscar in 2008.