SoftBank Corp is to invest USD250 million in Legendary Entertainment, a US film production company.
The two companies will also form a joint venture to exploit Legendary’s intellectual property rights.
Law firm Morrison & Foerster is providing advice to SoftBank on the deal, which is expected to close in October 2014.
Morrison & Foerster has a long-standing relationship with SoftBank and has advised the company on a number of high-profile transactions, including most recently in connection with Alibaba’s IPO, the largest IPO in history.
The firm was SoftBank’s lead counsel on another of the company’s major investments in the media space, its USD1.5 billion investment in mobile gaming company Supercell Oy in 2013, and also led SoftBank’s landmark USD21.6 billion acquisition of a 78 percent stake in Sprint Nextel, the largest outbound investment in Japan’s history.
