Chinese businessman and owner of English football club Aston Villa, Tony Xia, has scrapped his plan to buy a Hollywood studio for $100 million.
Reuters reports that Xia will no longer continue with the acquisition of Millennium Films through his company Recon Wenyuan Cable Co Ltd.
The decision was due to “new Chinese policy of film industry restriction.” Tightened regulation has been implemented by the government as a result of big-money overseas deals particularly in film, sports and real estate.
Recon Wenyuan had planned to buy 51% of Millennium Film for $100 million. The Chinese firm said in a regulatory statement that it agreed with the seller to not pursue the transaction as it could not be completed by the deadline of 31 August.
Millennium Film’s productions include The Expendables series, The Mechanic series, Olympus Has Fallen, London Has Fallen and the upcoming Hellboy reboot.
Xia tweeted that another unlisted entity would “continue the deal”.
