NEW YORK: Owen Blicksilver Public Relations is handling communications for The Weinstein Company’s potential sale to a private equity firm.
The production studio is negotiating a potential sale of some or all of its assets to Colony Capital, the private equity arm of Colony NorthStar, according to numerous reports. The Weinstein Company said on Monday that it has agreed to receive an immediate cash infusion from the private equity firm.
A number of women have stepped forward in the past two weeks to accuse studio founder Harvey Weinstein of inappropriate sexual behavior. Police in the U.S. and U.K. are investigating allegations of sexual assault involving Weinstein.
Owen Blicksilver MD Kristin Celauro, listed as the contact on a statement about the transaction, did not respond to a request seeking comment.
Owen Blicksilver is a specialist shop known for its work on financial transactions and with private equity firms. It ranked number 11 on Mergermarket’s table of PR advisers in terms of deal count for the first half of 2017. The value of those deals totalled more than $4.8 billion.
Blicksilver, who founded the firm in 2001 after leaving Citigate Sard Verbinnen, has worked with Colony for about 26 years. The firm also handled media communications for Miramax, which the Weinstein brothers sold to Disney in 1993, according to its website.
Weinstein reportedly hired Sitrick and Company for crisis comms support this month after two of his crisis managers resigned. His estranged wife, Georgina Chapman, is looking for a crisis comms firm, according to Us Weekly.
Ketchum cut ties with The Weinstein Company on October 6 after allegations of sexual harassment and sexual assault involving Weinstein began to emerge. It announced a partnership with the studio, which would have given the Omnicom Group firm access to its talent, a week earlier.
