msnbc.com – He is hardly your average movie investor. He cultivates his privacy, and he heads a $13 billion hedge fund that, unlike those run by Carl Icahn and others, rarely mounts a proxy fight. But while most Hollywood bankers have turned off the money spigot, billionaire Paul Singer’s Elliott Associates appears to be stepping up its investments.
Last year the firm lent money to film investor Ryan Kavanaugh, who is providing financing for as much as 75% of Universal Studio’s films through 2011. In recent days movie moguls have been buzzing that the hedge fund could be eyeing a play for the debt-hobbled MGM studio by buying up a small piece of the iconic film company’s nearly $4 billion in debt.
