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Liberty Media Wins Approval Of Split Off

BY Jeff Mordock
October 28, 2011

In affirming an April Chancery Court decision, the Delaware Supreme Court decided that a proposal by Liberty Media Corp. to split off some of its assets does not violate a successor obligation agreement with bondholders that prevents the media conglomerate from disposing “substantially all of its assets.” The Bank of New York Mellon Trust Co., N.A., v. Liberty Media Corp., 284.

In July 2010, Liberty Media proposed to split off several businesses allocated to its Capital Group and Starz Group into a new public entity, dubbed SplitCo. Liberty, an Englewood, CO, conglomerate run by billionaire John Malone, planned to transfer Starz Entertainment, Starz Media, Liberty Sports Interactive, the Atlanta Braves, True Position Inc. and Liberty's interest in Sirius XM. The assets have a book value of $9.1 billion, or 15% of Liberty's total assets, as of March 2004, according to court documents.

Bank of New York Mellon Trust (BNY Mellon) objected to the move on behalf of an anonymous bondholder, who alleged that the split off (when combined with three previous transactions) was a disaggregation strategy designed to remove substantially all of Liberty's assets from which bondholders have claims and transfer them into the hands of stockholders.

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