Icon-ic shift: U.K. distrib arm folds as Lionsgate eyes assets.

After months of speculation, Icon U.K. Group is shuttering its U.K. distribution arm and planning to concentrate on production. Lionsgate U.K. is believed to be in negotiations to buy the library and handle future releases of acquired titles in the territory.

News comes after Len Blavatnik's Access Industries, which purchased Icon U.K. Group from Mel Gibson and Bruce Davey's Icon Group in November 2009, tapped Aviv Giladi as CEO of the company last week in a move expected to herald a shift toward a more production-based business. In October, Variety revealed that Access had been shopping Icon's U.K. library to potential buyers following the distrib's weak performance.

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