Lions Gate May Bid $1 Billion for Hit

Lions Gate Entertainment (LGF) announced Saturday that it is considering a bid of roughly $1 billion for London-based children's media company Hit Entertainment. Lions Gate said it has requested due diligence information from Hit.

The figure Lions Gate has named would be a premium over the $923 million bid Hit agreed to March 21 from private equity firm Apax.

Reuters

reports that a source at Lions Gate states the firm would make an offer to Hit in the next few weeks if it decided to proceed.

Lions Gate is based in Vancouver, Canada, and has had hits in

Fahrenheit 9/11

and

Monster's Ball

. Hit's stable of characters includes Bob the Builder, Thomas the Tank Engine and purple dinosaur Barney.

Shares of Lions Gate closed trading Friday 15 cents higher, or 1.36%, at $11.20.