"After what's happened" lately to John Labatt Ltd., "the
possibility of a takeover has diminished or, at the very least,
the price tag has come down," writes Peter Hadekel of the
Montreal GAZETTE. The company reported this month that it took a
3rdQ writedown of C$272M on the asset value of its investment in
a Mexican brewery because of the peso's collapse. Another C$110M
could be written off in the current quarter if the peso does not
recover. Michael Palmer, an analyst with Equity Research
Associations: "The takeover rumors are still out there." But the
company's main strategy remains a plan to sell off non-core
holdings, including the Blue Jays, SkyDome and sports cable
network, TSN. There has been speculation that Labatt would like
to sell a stake in TSN to ESPN, which is 80% owned by Cap
Cities/ABC. But Levesque Beaubien Geoffrion analyst Jacques
Kavafian said there is "zero" interest in these properties and
that TSN has "peaked in terms of its earnings power and growth
potential." The Jays' value is uncertain while the sport is on
strike (Montreal GAZETTE, 3/22).
