Forbes buyer asks for two more weeks to close deal

Austin Russell, the 28-year-old Luminar Technologies CEO who is seeking to buy Forbes, has requested an extension of a Nov. 1 deadline to finalize his $800 million bid, reports Sara Fischer of Axios.

Fischer reports, “Representatives for Russell have said that Russell’s bid is ‘substantially oversubscribed, with over $2 billion of demand’ from mostly American investors. But ‘demand’ doesn’t mean the funds are in hand.

“Sources told Axios that the group is scrambling to replace the hundreds of millions of dollars in the deal that was originally committed by Sun Group vice chair Shiv Khemka.

“Sun Group and Khemka have ties to Russia, which has sparked concerns from regulators.

“As Axios has reported, Khemka is putting roughly $300 million into the deal, but his percentage of carried interest has been reduced to a point where the deal shouldn’t spark regulatory concerns.

“At least $100 million originally committed by Khemka was funneled through two of Khemka’s daughters, who were born in the U.S. and live in New York.”

Read more here. Fischer reports that Russian businessman Magomed Musaev will not be involved in the acquisition.