Carl Icahn Knocks Harder on Lions Gate

Carl Icahn has turned the screws just a little more on Lions Gate(LGF Quote), the independent film studio.

Through a series of affiliates, the billionaire investor raised his stake in Lions Gate to 15.6% from 14.5%, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday evening.

Icahn, who successfully pushed at least one of his candidates onto the board of the biotech firm Biogen in a proxy battle last week, has been trying since March to win seats on Lions Gate's board. A month ago, he failed in a tender offer for all of Lions Gate's convertible debt after negotiations with management over board seats fell apart. Some investors had criticized the bond tender price as underwhelming.

Since then, Icahn has acquired about $1.5 million worth of the bonds, convertible into only about 130,000 shares.

Still, he has continued to add Lions Gate stock on the open market. The 13-D filing showed that between May 1 and June 5, Icahn bought about 1.36 million shares, paying $5.37 to $5.47 apiece. The total purchase price for his entire stake has been about $122 million, according to the filing.

In Monday trading, Lions Gate shares were changing hands at $5.62, up 16 cents.