• Most Popular
  • Most Shared

UPDATE 1-Liberty Media sees Sirius stake spin in future

Thu Nov 12, 2009 4:22pm EST

Stocks

   

NEW YORK, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Liberty Media Corp (LINTA.O) expects that it will spin out its 40 percent stake in satellite radio operator Sirius XM (SIRI.O) "at some stage", Liberty CEO Greg Maffei said on Thursday.

Stocks  |  Mergers & Acquisitions  |  Cyclical Consumer Goods

Liberty, the media conglomerate owned by media mogul John Malone, made an opportunistic acquisition of the stake in Sirius in February when the satellite company was on the verge of bankruptcy.

Maffei, who was speaking at the Media & Money conference in New York, said the Sirius investment had been one of the best bets the company had ever made.

Liberty Media paid $530 million in loans with a high 15 percent interest rate in exchange for preferred stock convertible into a 40 percent stake in the company. Today the stake is now worth more than $1 billion.

"It will be logical to spin out the stake at some stage," Maffei said.

Liberty Media has traditionally avoided transactions that could lead to it incurring taxes on top of a deal price. One option would be to spin-out the stake directly to shareholders of its Liberty Capital (LCAPA.O) tracking stock through which it made the Sirius investment.

(Reporting by Yinka Adegoke; Editing Bernard Orr)

Stocks
Mergers & Acquisitions
Cyclical Consumer Goods


More from Reuters

A male polar bear cannabalizes a polar bear cub in an area about 300km (186 miles) north of the Canadian town of Churchill November 20, 2009. Credit: REUTERS/Iain D. Williams

Polar bear turns cannibal

As the world focuses on climate change in Copenhagen, the animal that has come to represent global warming is turning cannibalistic as the Arctic ice melts their hunting grounds, a U.S.-led global scientific study said.  Slideshow | Full Article 

    Climate Conference
    Emmanuel Roy, a suspect in a mortgage-fraud scheme is escorted by FBI agents after being taken into custody in New York, October 15, 2009. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

    Sowing seeds of corruption

    Corruption, whether it's crooked officials, financial fraudsters or philandering sports stars, is the country's No. 1 criminal threat, says the FBI.  Full Article 

    Corporate Crime
    Space shuttle Atlantis lifts off from launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida November 16, 2009. Atlantis lifted off its seaside launch pad on Monday, loaded with spare parts to keep the International Space Station flying after the shuttles are retired next year. REUTERS/Scott Audette

    Can Florida re-launch itself?

    The sunshine state's space program is a boon for local businesses, especially when a shuttle takes off. But what happens when the 29-year old program comes to a close next year?  Full Article 

    U.S.