Disney completes $663M sale of Miramax

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Construction magnate Ron Tutor can now call himself a Hollywood mogul.

The chief executive of Tutor-Saliba Corp. confirmed Friday that the group of investors he leads completed its deal to buy the award-laden studio Miramax Films from The Walt Disney Co.

Disney said the sale to Filmyard Holdings LLC was for $663 million, subject to certain adjustments. Filmyard’s investors include Tutor, real estate investment group Colony Capital LLC and its CEO Tom Barrack and Qatar Holding LLC, the Middle Eastern country’s investment firm.

The deal was announced in July, but its closing was delayed amid concerns about bank financing.

Tutor on Friday told The Associated Press that Barclays PLC was the lead bank in the financing.

“Everybody’s smiling,” he said. “We’re excited, moving forward.”

Mike Lang, a former business development executive at New Corp., has been hired as Miramax’s new chief executive, Tutor said. He added that he would be more at liberty to talk about plans for the studio next week.

Miramax was founded in 1979 by Harvey and Bob Weinstein and named after their parents Miriam and Max. The studio is behind a string of Oscar winners including “Shakespeare in Love” (1998), “Chicago” (2002) and “No Country for Old Men” (2007).

Disney bought Miramax for $80 million in 1993 and kept the Weinsteins on as managers until they left after a dispute over the Michael Moore documentary “Fahrenheit 9/11” to form The Weinstein Co. in 2005. Disney had been looking to sell the edgy studio since January after closing down much of its operations, and it began focusing more on family fare that could be linked to toys, theme park attractions and other spin-off businesses.

Disney said the sale includes over 700 film titles, as well as books, development projects and the “Miramax” name.