Here’s the announcement from Mark Gill and Neil Sacker:

The Film Department announced today that it is in negotiation with investors who prefer to keep the company in private hands for $200 million in equity and debt that will be used to finance the production, acquisition and U.S. release of 5-10 films per year. As a result, the company has withdrawn its registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

6 AM: SEC filings show that Mark Gill’s and Neil Sacker’s The Film Department has cut the price of its expected IPO again — this time by more than half to $6 a share. Obviously, the reason for the public offering is to raise money for this production, finance, and international sales movie indie which also wants a domestic distribution arm. But this just may not be the right time economy-wise considering even powerhouse private equity firm KKR’s recent IPO was flat. The Film Department first filed for an IPO in December at between $12 to $14 a share price to raise $100M, and this is the 2nd time it has trimmed its share price. The problem now is that the cut-price IPO may not even cover The Film Department’s $25M of outstanding debt.

Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.

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