Liberty OKs swap of shares
Tuesday, March 02, 2004
By Tom McGhee
Denver Post Business Writer
Liberty Media Corp. took another another step toward simplifying its ownership structure Monday by agreeing to swap stock shares with the family of Bob Magness, the founder of Tele-Communications Inc.
The transaction, combined with a deal announced in December, will cut Liberty chairman John Malone's voting power to 28 percent from 43 percent but isn't expected to affect Malone's control of the company, said Ted Henderson, an equity analyst with Stifel Nicolaus & Co. in Denver.
Nor will it have an impact on Douglas County-based Liberty's operations or on its shareholders, Henderson said.
"This is a non-event in terms of the average Liberty shareholder out there in the marketplace," Henderson said.
The deal announced in December began the process of reducing Malone's voting control. In that transaction, Liberty swapped $60.7 million in stock to absorb one of Malone's private investment vehicles, TP Investment Inc.
This time, Liberty will swap 105 million Class A common shares for the Magness family's 96 million Class B shares, the company said in a statement. The shares controlled by the Magness estate are super-voting shares, which means each share counts for 10 Class A shares when they are voted.
Bob Magness died in 1996. His company, cable giant TCI, was the parent company to Liberty until TCI was acquired by AT&T Corp. in 1999. Liberty was spun off from AT&T Broadband in 2002.
The Magness family's lawyer, Jack Levine, couldn't be reached for comment.
As part of the transaction, Malone, 62, will give up the right to vote the Magness Class B shares that he acquired in a 1998 agreement between members of his own family and the Magness heirs.
The exchange is expected to be completed within the week.
"The deal he did today was to continue the simplification process and reduce ownership control, which investors like from a corporate governance stance," said Robert Routh, an analyst at Natexis Bleichroeder Inc. "It facilitates the ability to sell the company, merge the company or split it up into different pieces." |
