Hollywood Reporter: Steven Mnuchin Keeps Buying Lionsgate Stock, Growing Stake

Story from Hollywood Reporter:

Steven Mnuchin keeps buying Lionsgate.

The former banker and Treasury Secretary under President Trump has in the last few weeks acquired another $10 million or so in shares of entertainment company, bringing his stake to 11 percent.

According to a securities filing, Mnuchin’s Liberty 77 Capital Partners acquired the shares between June 6 and June 17, at prices ranging from $7.75 per share to $8.30 per share.

Mnuchin has been on a Lionsgate buying spree ever since initially disclosing a 5.5 percent stake back in September. Earlier this year he upped his stake to 7.9 percent, with the new disclosure pushing him over the 10 percent threshold.

It is still not entirely clear what Mnuchin’s ultimate goal is with Lionsgate, though a filing says that the purchases were “made for investment purposes.” Lionsgate declined to comment and Mnuchin’s firm did not respond to a request for comment.

“Liberty Strategic Capital intends to review such investment in Lions Gate on a continuing basis and, depending on Lions Gate’s performance and other market conditions, increase or decrease its investment position,” it continues.

Mnuchin raised $2.5 billion for his Liberty fund in 2021, with family offices, insurance companies and Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund among the investors. At the time Liberty said it was interested in investing in companies developing “new forms of content.”

The banker is also a Hollywood veteran, including a stint on the board of the the ill-fated studio Relativity Media, and as a producer on movies like The Lego Movie and Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice.