Liberty Media cancels deal to sell its News Corp. shares
John Malone’s Liberty Media Corp. has canceled an agreement to sell as many as 19 million shares it holds in Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.
A contract terminated Friday required Liberty to deliver the shares to an unnamed financial institution in exchange for about $303.6 million, Douglas County-based Liberty said Monday in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
A Liberty Media Corp. executive said last week the company plans to retain its 18 percent voting stake in News Corp.
“Our intent is to hold the assets,” Liberty senior vice president Mark Carleton said.
Liberty’s decision to hold on to its News Corp. shares did not surprise Janco Partners analyst Matthew Harrigan.
“Selling below $17 is surely not very attractive,” he said.
News Corp.’s stock fell 6 cents Monday to close at $16 on the New York Stock Exchange, down from nearly $19 at the beginning of the year. The decline is mostly the result of general investor uncertainty about media stocks, Harrigan said.
The move also means the tension between Malone and Murdoch probably will continue.
“Liberty also wants to maintain its leverage relative to the Murdoch family,” Harrigan said.
MANDO, Indonesia
Newmont to stand trial in pollution case
Newmont Mining Corp., the world’s biggest gold miner, will stand trial on charges of polluting the sea with mine waste, after a panel of judges rejected the company’s effort to have the case dismissed.
Lawyers for Denver-based Newmont argued that the charges against the company and its local head, Richard Ness, had no basis in Indonesian law. Ness, who denies the charges, faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
DENVER
Union reaches deals for grocery workers
The union representing warehouse and transportation workers for King Soopers and Safe way has reached a contract agreement covering two employee groups and is still negotiating a contract for two more groups.
The Teamsters union has reached agreements with Transervice Logistics, which handles King Soopers transportation workers, and Advantage Logistics, which handles King Soopers’ nonperishable warehouse division. The union is still working out deals with Atlas Logistics, which employs workers in King Soopers’ perishable warehouse division, and with Safeway. Contracts for all four groups expired Saturday.
ARAPAHOE COUNTY
MarkWest to buy gas-processing plant
MarkWest Energy Partners LP agreed to buy a gas-processing plant in Corpus Christi, Texas, from a joint venture of El Paso Corp., Kerr-McGee Corp. and Valero Energy Corp. for about $355 million.
El Paso operates the Javelina plant and holds a 40 percent stake in the venture, Andrew Schroeder, a spokesman for Arapahoe County-based MarkWest, said Monday. Kerr-McGee has a 40 percent stake and Valero 20 percent.
WALTHAM, Mass.
Louisville’s Thermo BioStar to be bought
Inverness Medical Innovations Inc., which makes Clearblue Easy pregnancy tests, said it has agreed to buy Thermo Electron Corp.’s Louisville- based Thermo BioStar business for $52.5 million in cash to expand its line of rapid tests.
The acquisition is expected to be completed about Sept. 30, Waltham, Mass.-based Inver ness said Monday. BioStar makes diagnostic tests, including some for infectious diseases.
WASHINGTON
Lockheed deal brings work to Springs
Lockheed Martin Corp. has been awarded a $32.5 million contract modification to its existing Space Based Infrared System contract. The modification exercises an option for continued work, to be complete by September 2006. According to the Department of Defense, work will be performed at Lockheed Martin Technical Operations in Colorado Springs.
DENVER
Colo. gambling towns post strong August
Colorado’s mountain casinos posted a 2.1 percent increase in revenue in August compared with the same month a year ago, according to statistics released Monday by the Colorado Division of Gaming.
The state’s 46 casinos recorded adjusted gross proceeds of $63.9 million, up from $62.6 million last year. Black Hawk’s 21 casinos posted the only decline of the three gaming towns, recording adjusted gross proceeds of $43.7 million, down from $44.3 million in August 2004. Cripple Creek’s 19 casinos posted $14 million in revenue, while Central City’s six casinos recorded $6.2 million.
GREELEY
Agri Products parent to cut about 100 jobs
Greeley-based UAP Holding Corp. said it will cut about 100 jobs from the company’s 3,800- employee workforce as part of a corporate reorganization.
UAP is the parent company of United Agri Products Inc., North America’s largest independent distributor of agricultural chemicals, seeds and fertilizers.
About half of the cuts will come from closing UAP’s regional finance center in Tampa, Fla. UAP also will consolidate its regional distribution network. The changes are not expected to affect employment in Colorado.
DENVER
Top Rentech execs announce retirement
Rentech Inc. announced Monday the retirement of Dennis Yakobson, chief executive and chairman, and Ronald Butz, chief operating officer, vice president, secretary and a member of the board. Yakobson will retire as CEO by Dec. 31 and will continue to serve as chairman through his term, which expires in 2008.
WASHINGTON
Rates on short-term T-bills hit 4-year high
Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills rose in Monday’s auction to the highest levels since 2001. The Treasury Department auctioned $17 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 3.495 percent, and an additional $15 billion in six-month bills at a rate of 3.715 percent.
VAIL
SEC investigation into Vail Resorts halted
Vail Resorts Inc., the owner of ski resorts in Colorado and Wyoming, said a U.S. investigation of the company has been terminated and no enforcement action was recommended. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which in February 2003 started the investigation, informed the company of its decision Monday, Vail Resorts said in a statement.
