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In The News

The principals of M&A are quoted regularly and frequently in publications ranging from Business Week and Forbes to the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, New York Post, Los Angeles Times, and other major publications worldwide. M&A has been the subject of interviews on business-radio and television programs including the Fox Business News, CBS MarketWatch, The Street.com TV, Yahoo! Finance TV, Sirius XM Radio, BBC-Worldwide and CNBC. Below are links to a sample of articles in which M&A has been quoted:

Comcast-Disney combination could bring spinoffs

February 2004

ESPN, ABC, other IPOs may loom

Comcast-Disney combination could bring spinoffs

By Steve Gelsi, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 1:20 PM ET Feb. 11, 2004

NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Initial public offerings of shares in ESPN, ABC and other Disney units could result if Comcast's proposed $66 billion acquisition of Disney goes through, Wall Street sources said Tuesday.

Speculation about a possible spinoff from the media conglomerate (DIS) came as Comcast surprised many investors with its unsolicited bid for the Dow Jones Industrial Average component.

With Disney and Comcast (CMCSK) (CMCSA) each operating a variety of businesses, it's likely that units would be spun off, sold or issued to the public via stock offerings to raise money to pay off debt.

In an interview with the cable channel CNBC, Comcast Chief Executive Brian Roberts said the company would have no immediate plans to sell off any parts of Disney. He didn't mention IPO possibilities.

In the cases of ESPN and ABC, Comcast could offer a portion of the units to raise cash but retain enough ownership to hold on to the content that it craves for its mammoth cable-TV distribution system.

James McGlynn, manager of the Summit Fund, which has been a Disney shareholder, said an ESPN spinoff is among the many possibilities facing the merger.

Such a prospect was greeted warmly by some on Wall Street, including Ken Marlin of Marlin & Associates, an investment banking advisory firm. "Disney has a number of businesses that are independent and are certainly capable of being spun off," Marlin said.

He also sees the possibility of other media firms such as Liberty Media (L) and EchoStar (DISH) swooping in for parts of Disney -- or for the entire company.

Although the ABC television network has been struggling in the ratings, it's still a valuable property, with the ability to pull off an IPO, Marlin said.

ESPN is often seen as a marquee property for Disney. Although Disney doesn't break out ESPN's business results, revenue at the company's media networks, which include ABC and ESPN, climbed 6 percent to $3.1 billion in the latest quarter. See full story.

Kathy Smith, a fund manager with Renaissance Capital, said an Comcast-Disney IPO would be similar to News Corp.'s (NWS) move to offer Fox Entertainment (FOX) in an initial public offering.

Debuting at $22.50 per share on Nov. 11, 1998, the IPO raised a hefty $2.8 billion in cash for News Corp. The stock is now trading at about $31.

Smith said an initial public offering of ESPN would be a "home run."

Not all such media-stock transactions have hit gold, however.

Cablevision (CVC) issued a tracking stock for its entertainment assets under the Rainbow Media name, but it pulled the plug in 2002 after less than two years.
Steve Gelsi is a reporter for CBS.MarketWatch.com in New York.

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