Fmi Financial Corp

The group seeking to buy Taft Broadcasting increased by $2 a share its $1.4-billion offer for the Ohio-based television station operator and program producer. Three members of the shareholders group, Taft vice chairman Dudley S. Taft, Texas investor Robert M. Bass and an American Financial Corp. subsidiary controlled by Carl H. Lindner, had been rivals for Taft but joined forces in April. Together, the group owns about 42% of Taft's 9.2 million common shares.

The group seeking to buy Taft Broadcasting increased by $2 a share its $1.4-billion offer for the Ohio-based television station operator and program producer. Three members of the shareholders group, Taft vice chairman Dudley S. Taft, Texas investor Robert M. Bass and an American Financial Corp. subsidiary controlled by Carl H. Lindner, had been rivals for Taft but joined forces in April. Together, the group owns about 42% of Taft's 9.2 million common shares.

Shareholders of Taft Broadcasting Co. on Tuesday approved the company's sale to a partnership of major Taft stockholders headed by Cincinnati financier Carl H. Lindner Jr. and Texas financier Robert M. Bass. A total of 76.7% of the stockholders voting approved the sale of the company to the TFBA Limited Partnership. The $847-million buyout still must be approved by the Federal Communications Commission.

One of the few things bond investors could count on, it always seemed, was finding good news in the financial reports of American Financial Corp., the insurance-based conglomerate run by Cincinnati financier Carl H. Lindner. Lindner's company seemed to be the closest thing to a sure thing on Wall Street.