Time Warner won’t raise bid for MGM

Time Warner is not raising its bid to buy the ailing Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer movie studio, making it more likely MGM’s lenders will foreclose on the business, sources close to the situation said.

“They keep getting asked to raise their bid and they keep declining,” a source said.

MGM has largely stopped making movies, and its value lies in a film library that includes the James Bond franchise. The private-equity-owned business has defaulted on its loans.

Warner continues to take the view it is not going to bid against itself, believing that after a long auction process there is no one else interested in buying the business and MGM’s lenders, which are not interested in running it, will eventually have to sell to them.

Time Warner declined comment.