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Douglas County-based Liberty Media will unwind part of an equity collar in DirecTV Group to repay debt. The collar is a contract reached in April under which Liberty chairman John Malone sold the right to reap any gains in his 52 percent interest in DirecTV above $28.33 a share in exchange for a guarantee that the bank involved in the deal would absorb any losses if the satellite- TV provider fell below $22.89. Unwinding the collar involves buying back the right to purchase shares at the preset minimum and selling the guarantee against losses. The transaction announced Tuesday will give Malone cash to repay half of a $469 million debt related to the collar, said analyst Tom Eagan of Collins Stewart LLC. Bloomberg News
