Liberty Global to sell French cable business
Douglas County-based Liberty Global will sell its French cable business for about $1.51 billion, the company said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Thursday.
The international cable operator signed a letter of intent with French companies Altice and Cinven, which are owned by French cable company FT Numbericable, according to the filing.
Filing seeks sale of Don Johnson’s ranch
D.E. Shaw Laminar Lending Inc. has filed a motion in Pitkin County District Court asking a judge to authorize the sale of actor Don Johnson’s 17-acre ranch, outside Aspen in Woody Creek.
The filing alleges Johnson has failed to make timely payments on a $10.6 million loan on the property, according to the Aspen Daily News.
New York-based D.E. Shaw declined to comment. Elliot Mintz, Johnson’s publicist, said he “believed the matter has been resolved” as of Thursday.
Gary-Williams Energy wins defense contract
Gary-Williams Energy in Denver has been awarded a $118.4 million, 12-month contract from the Defense Logistics Agency to provide jet fuel for the Defense Energy Support Center.
CollegeInvest officer gets museum post
Giovanni Greco, the chief operating officer at CollegeInvest, will leave the Denver-based provider of student loans and college savings plans April 14 to take over as president of the Wildlife Experience, a 110,000- square-foot museum in Parker.
Newmont mining in Indonesia to slow
Newmont Mining Corp., the world’s biggest gold producer, said gold and copper production at the Batu Hijau mine in Indonesia will be lower than the company expected this year because of unstable ground conditions.
About 45 million equity ounces of copper and 60,000 equity ounces of gold will be deferred to subsequent years to allow workers to address recurring instability of the mine’s east pit wall, Newmont said Thursday.
Airport to seek loan for Denver flights
Sioux Falls Regional Airport will apply for a $350,000 federal small community air service grant with the hope that it can get Denver-based Frontier Airlines to start flights between Denver and Sioux Falls with regional code-share partner Horizon Air.
Lucent: Adelphia fails to reserve debt funds
Adelphia Communications Corp., the bankrupt cable operator based in Greenwood Village, failed to reserve $42 million to satisfy debt owed to Lucent Technologies Inc. in a proposed plan to repay creditors, Lucent said in court papers.
Adelphia lists Lucent with no claim in a court filing in New York. Lucent, the biggest U.S. phone equipment maker, said it is owed more than $42 million for goods and services provided to Adelphia’s Devon Mobile Communications unit.
Microsoft names new head of Windows unit
Microsoft Corp. promoted Steven Sinofsky, a protégé of Bill Gates, to run its Windows and Internet unit after development delays caused the world’s biggest software maker to postpone the latest version of its operating system until next year.
Sinofsky, 40, will replace Jim Allchin, a 16-year Microsoft veteran, in running Windows. Will Poole will be removed as head of Windows Client, and Sinofsky will lead planning for future Windows versions, Microsoft said Thursday in a statement.
Ex-Enron treasurer hedges testimony
Former Enron Corp. treasurer Ben Glisan, under questioning by a defense lawyer, hedged his earlier testimony that former chief executive Jeff Skilling approved a scheme to dodge accounting rules.
Glisan, 40, testifying at the fraud trial of Skilling and former chairman Ken Lay, told jurors Wednesday that the ex-CEO endorsed use of an off-the-books partnership to “circumvent the accounting rules.” On Thursday, under cross-examination, Glisan said he couldn’t recall Skilling’s exact words.
GM sells chunk of mortgage division
General Motors Corp., struggling with big losses, slow sales and high labor costs, said Thursday it sold a majority interest in its commercial mortgage division in a deal worth $9 billion that gives its finance arm a boost as it prepares for its own sale.
General Motors Acceptance Corp. is getting $1.5 billion in cash from an investment group for a 78 percent stake in the commercial mortgage business. In addition, that business, GMAC Commercial Holding Corp., repaid $7.3 billion in intercompany loans. That boosts the total proceeds to GMAC to almost $9 billion.
Surge in shares to add Google to S&P 500
Google Inc. will be added to the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index after a fourfold surge in its shares that valued the world’s most-used Internet search engine at more than $100 billion.
