четверг, 13 сентября 2012 г.

2 AOL units are expected to be sold to trim debt - International Herald Tribune

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AOL Time Warner, seeking to reduce its debt, is believed to be about to announce two sales of businesses. The company was expected to announce Friday that it had agreed to sell its CD and DVD manufacturing business for $1.04 billion to Cinram International of Toronto, people briefed on the negotiations said.Cinram is currently the largest maker of such discs. Representatives of Cinram could be not be reached to comment on the possible transaction. Next week, the company is expected to announce that it has agreed to sell two of its three Atlanta sports teams ã the Hawks of the National Basketball Association and the Thrashers of the National Hockey League ã and their arena to David McDavid, a Dallas car dealer, one executive briefed on the transaction said. People in the industry put the deal's value at about $250 million AOL Time Warner also owns the Atlanta Braves baseball team. A spokesman for AOL Time Warner declined to comment. The sales are the latest in a yearlong effort by the chief executive, Richard Parsons, to cut AOL Time Warner's debt. But its progress is also raising new questions. Executives at the company have recently said that AOL Time Warner may no longer feel the need to sell a minority stake in its cable division in an initial public offering. Canceling that sale, however, would require the consent of Brian Roberts, the chief executive of Comcast, which owns a stake in the cable division and has the right to call for an offering as part of a deal to restructure a previous partnership. Roberts is likely to use that right as leverage in some other talks with the company, possibly to seek money or other compensation.