Qintex Entertainment Inc

The drama mounted for the Australian Qintex group Monday with the announcement that the group--which failed two weeks ago to make good on its $1.5-billion bid for MGM/UA Communications--now intends to sell off $600 million (Australian) in assets to reduce a crushing debt burden. But a company official said that Qintex's coastal property in Dana Point is not among those assets for sale and that the company will press ahead with plans to develop a resort project there.

A U.S. executive with Qintex Australia Ltd. said Friday that its plans to build a luxurious resort in Dana Point are still on track despite the bankruptcy of a subsidiary. The subsidiary, Qintex Entertainment, filed for protection from creditors this week after missing a $5.9-million payment to MCA Inc., part of a film distribution agreement. The bankruptcy is one more sign of troubles for Qintex Australia Ltd., the parent company, which owns 43% of Qintex Entertainment's stock.

Qintex Entertainment Inc., whose Australian affiliate's deal to buy MGM/UA Communications Co. collapsed nearly two weeks ago amid financing problems, has filed for bankruptcy law protection after it failed to make a debt payment, the company announced Friday. In addition, David Evans resigned as president, chief executive and a director, but he will remain as a consultant until a successor is appointed, Qintex said.

The fate of MGM/UA Communications Co. remained unresolved Thursday as the Australian Qintex Group made no effort to revive its collapsed $1.5-billion deal to acquire the entertainment company, a Qintex official said.

The collapse of the deal under which MGM/UA Communications Co. was to have been sold to the Australian Qintex Group drove down the prices of both companies' shares Wednesday, while on another front, media magnate Rupert Murdoch toyed publicly with the notion of reviving his earlier offer for MGM/UA. Murdoch--who has been in Australia for the annual shareholders meeting of his 45%-owned News Corp.--told a television audience there that News Corp. is not "lusting after" MGM/UA.

In an 11th-hour move, two Rupert Murdoch-controlled companies have made a $1.8-billion bid for MGM/UA Communications Co., which was slated to merge with a smaller Australian company in two weeks. MGM/UA said that its directors will meet today to consider the offer, made jointly by News Corp. Ltd. and Fox Inc., the parent of rival film studio 20th Century Fox Film Corp. MGM/UA has been asked for a decision within 24 hours, according to one executive familiar with the bid.

Christopher Skase is no Rupert Murdoch--not in background and certainly not in name recognition. But with his deal last Friday to buy most of the assets of MGM/UA Communications, Skase is preparing to follow in the famous media baron's tracks to become the second Australian to take over a major Hollywood movie studio. The 40-year-old Skase is the majority shareholder of Brisbane-based Qintex Group, which boasts $2 billion of assets in resorts and television broadcasting and programming.

After nearly a year of rumors, on-again, off-again negotiations with a variety of suitors and several 11th-hour reversals, MGM/UA Communications Co. has agreed to be sold for $1 billion to an Australian company best known here for co-producing the hit TV miniseries "Lonesome Dove." As part of the deal, major MGM assets will be immediately repurchased by its longtime owner, Kirk Kerkorian, for $250 million.