|
Hicks picks flicks
|
 |
November 12, 1997: 1:40 p.m. ET
Dallas buyout company purchases nation's second-largest movie exhibitor
|
NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst Inc. couldn't resist the lure of the silver screen, announcing Wednesday an agreement to buy the second largest movie exhibitor in the country for $850 million.
Hicks will acquire Oscar I Corp., the parent of United Artists Theatre Group, an Englewood, Colo.-based operator of motion picture theaters with 2,174 screens in 340 locations in 26 states. The company employs about 11,000 workers.
United Artists Theatre Group is not affiliated with the United Artists motion picture company.
The $850 million price tag includes United Artists' $300 million debt burden. The companies expect the deal to be completed during the first quarter of 1998, pending regulatory approval.
United Artists will retain all of its theater employees, management and its Colorado headquarters.
The move is the latest in Hicks' aggressive acquisition strategy in media. Last month, it was successful in a bid to buy LIN Television, and during the summer bought SFX Broadcasting Corp., the nation's largest radio operator.
Since being founded in 1989, Dallas' Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst has entered into more than 100 transactions which, in total, add up to more than $24 billion.
-- by staff writer Randy Schultz
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
