Hicks Muse Tate Furst Inc

Privately held investment firm Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst Inc., Liberty Media Corp. and Motorola Inc. said they will team up to form Digital Latin America to help accelerate the availability of high-speed Internet services and digital programming for cable television customers in Latin America. Digital Latin America will service Mexico, Central and South America and the Caribbean, covering more than 92 million TV households, the companies said.

Thomas O. Hicks, who built Hicks Muse Tate & Furst Inc. into the second-largest buyout firm before $2 billion in losses on telecommunications and media stakes helped drop it to ninth, will retire in March 2005. Co-founder John R. Muse, 53, will succeed Hicks, 58, the Dallas-based firm said in a statement.

Johns Manville Corp. said its previously announced merger pact with an investor group led by affiliates of Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst Inc. has terminated. The companies agreed to break off the agreement because of weak industry conditions, an increasingly negative outlook for the economy and unfavorable financing markets, the Denver-based maker of building materials said.

Hicks Muse Tate & Furst Inc. and Apax Partners & Co. agreed Sunday to buy British Telecommunications' yellow pages unit for $3 billion as Britain's second-largest phone company tries to lower its debt. The two buyout firms will pay $2.8 billion in cash and close to $200 million in loan notes for Yell Group, British Telecom said. The transaction would be the biggest leveraged buyout of a European company this year and the third-biggest ever, according to the research firm Initiative Europe.

Thomas O. Hicks, who built Hicks Muse Tate & Furst Inc. into the second-largest buyout firm before $2 billion in losses on telecommunications and media stakes helped drop it to ninth, will retire in March 2005. Co-founder John R. Muse, 53, will succeed Hicks, 58, the Dallas-based firm said in a statement.

Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst Inc. agreed to buy most of Home Interiors & Gifts Inc. for $920 million, betting that the company can become one of the nation's largest direct-sales marketers. Hicks Muse said the acquisition, for $170 million in cash, $275 million in equity and $475 million in assumed debt, will give the closely held investment firm about 65% of Home Interiors, which had 1997 sales of $468 million. It sells products nationwide through about 48,000 independent representatives.

Partnership to Buy Triad: A partnership led by Dallas-based Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst Inc. said it will buy Triad Systems Corp., a maker of computer systems for auto parts and hardware stores, in a deal worth $300 million. Hicks, Muse and its partner, Cooperative Computing Inc., said they will begin a direct offer to Triad shareholders of about $181.2 million. The offer represents a 68% premium over Triad's closing price Wednesday of $5.50 a share. Triad shares surged $4 to $9.50 on Nasdaq.

Buyout firm Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst Inc. agreed to buy LIN Television Corp., the nation's 22nd-largest TV group, for about $1.7 billion, or $47.50 a share, in cash, the companies said. That is more than 2% below LIN's closing share price of $48.63, up 75 cents, on Nasdaq. Providence, R.I.-based LIN owns and operates eight network-affiliated TV stations; its flagship station is KXAS, the NBC affiliate in Dallas. LIN was formed in December 1994 as a spinoff from LIN Broadcasting Corp. AT&T Corp.

NBC and Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst Inc. are reportedly in talks about forming a partnership that would own two television stations and forge long-term ties between the top-rated network and one of the nation's biggest station owners. NBC would contribute its station in San Diego and an undisclosed amount of cash and debt to the partnership, said people familiar with the transaction.

Monsanto Co. said it had agreed to sell for an undisclosed amount of cash its cotton seed business to the Dallas-based buyout firm Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst Inc., a move that may clear the way for Monsanto to complete its long-pending acquisition of cotton seed breeder Delta & Pine Land Co. In May, a year after St. Louis-based Monsanto and Delta & Pine agreed to merge, Delta's directors voted to extend the time frame for completing the deal to Dec.

Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst, the buyout firm battered by money-losing bets on movie theaters and telecommunications start-ups, said it's returning to basic industries with the purchase of bankrupt pickle maker Vlasic Foods International Inc. for about $370 million. Vlasic persuaded a bankruptcy judge two weeks ago to approve the sale of its assets to the buyout group. The sale also includes Open Pit barbecue sauce and Swanson frozen foods, which created the first frozen pot pie and TV dinners.

Johns Manville Corp. said its previously announced merger pact with an investor group led by affiliates of Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst Inc. has terminated. The companies agreed to break off the agreement because of weak industry conditions, an increasingly negative outlook for the economy and unfavorable financing markets, the Denver-based maker of building materials said.

Hicks Muse Tate & Furst Inc. and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts Inc. are discussing whether to cut their losses on a $1-billion bet on Regal Cinemas Inc. or up the ante by buying the theater chain's troubled rivals. With Regal bonds selling for 12 cents on the dollar and lenders pushing to get repaid, Hicks Muse co-founder Thomas Hicks said the two buyout firms, among the world's biggest, have deep enough pockets to help revive the business.

Britain's Allied Domecq may face a rival bid from Pernod-Ricard and U.S. private equity group Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst for the spirits business of Seagram Co., bankers said. Allied Domecq is seeking a loan of more than $3.8 billion to support its widely expected bid for Seagram's spirits arm, although it has yet to enter formal talks with the Canadian group, an industry source told Reuters.

Privately held investment firm Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst Inc., Liberty Media Corp. and Motorola Inc. said they will team up to form Digital Latin America to help accelerate the availability of high-speed Internet services and digital programming for cable television customers in Latin America. Digital Latin America will service Mexico, Central and South America and the Caribbean, covering more than 92 million TV households, the companies said.

Monsanto Co. said it had agreed to sell for an undisclosed amount of cash its cotton seed business to the Dallas-based buyout firm Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst Inc., a move that may clear the way for Monsanto to complete its long-pending acquisition of cotton seed breeder Delta & Pine Land Co. In May, a year after St. Louis-based Monsanto and Delta & Pine agreed to merge, Delta's directors voted to extend the time frame for completing the deal to Dec.

LIN Television Corp. accepted a sweetened offer of $1.9 billion from the Dallas-based investment firm Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst Inc. The move comes one day after Raycom Media Inc. had raised its bid for the Providence-based broadcaster to $1.7 billion. Hicks Muse will pay $55 a share in cash, or about $250 million more than it first bid in August. Hicks Muse plans to use LIN's eight stations and management as the foundation for an effort to become one of the nation's largest station owners.

Hicks Muse Tate & Furst Inc. and Apax Partners & Co. agreed Sunday to buy British Telecommunications' yellow pages unit for $3 billion as Britain's second-largest phone company tries to lower its debt. The two buyout firms will pay $2.8 billion in cash and close to $200 million in loan notes for Yell Group, British Telecom said. The transaction would be the biggest leveraged buyout of a European company this year and the third-biggest ever, according to the research firm Initiative Europe.

Private buyout firm Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst moved into oil and gas Monday by agreeing to buy a majority stake in independent producer Coho Energy Inc. for $250 million and use it as a vehicle for further acquisitions. Hicks Muse said it would buy about 41.67 million Coho shares at $6 per share, which would give it a 62% stake. Dallas-based Coho focuses on exploring and developing oil and gas properties in Oklahoma, Mississippi and Louisiana.

Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst Inc. agreed to buy most of Home Interiors & Gifts Inc. for $920 million, betting that the company can become one of the nation's largest direct-sales marketers. Hicks Muse said the acquisition, for $170 million in cash, $275 million in equity and $475 million in assumed debt, will give the closely held investment firm about 65% of Home Interiors, which had 1997 sales of $468 million. It sells products nationwide through about 48,000 independent representatives.