ITT's stake in the Knicks, Rangers and Madison Square
Garden "likely" will be put up for sale following its public
rejection yesterday of a $6.5B hostile takeover offer from
Hilton Hotels Corp., according to Sanger & Zipay in NEWSDAY.
ITT said it would explore ways "to realize the value of non-
core assets," its definition of which included 50% of the
Garden, its teams and cable network and half of N.Y.
broadcast station WBIS+. Cablevision, which purchased MSG
in '95 with ITT and has the first opportunity to buy ITT's
Garden stake "wouldn't say" yesterday whether it would
exercise that option, but "many observers speculate that
Cablevision can't afford" the estimated $500M-plus price
tag. Sanger & Zipay note ITT could spin off its properties
to existing shareholders or sell it to the public, adding
"it's possible" the teams, arena and WBIS+ could be sold
separately (NEWSDAY, 2/13). Selling off non-core assets
such as MSG and WBIS+ "is exactly" what Hilton CEO Stephen
Bollenbach "vows to do if he wrests control of the company."
Besides Cablevision, ITT has held "super-preliminary" talks
with News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch about the properties
(Douglas Feiden, N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 2/13). News Corp. Group
General Arthur Siskind: "If the Garden's assets came on the
market, we would consider it" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 2/13).
DIG IN: A source close to ITT said the company has
hired a third investment bank to help "explore the sale of
assets," but the source added any "takeover battle will be a
marathon, giving the company time to complete the sales"
(Jon Elsen, N.Y. POST, 2/13). ITT added that it would fight
the hostile takeover in Federal Court in NV, where Hilton
filed a lawsuit to keep ITT from using anti-takeover
measures (Kenneth Gilpin, N.Y. TIMES, 2/13). Oppenheimer
Gaming and Lodging Analyst David Wolfe: "I think they're
setting themselves up for quite a battle in the corporate
field, and everyone who talks about the Holyfield-Tyson
fight coming up, we've got one right in the corporate world
going on right now" ("Moneyline," CNN, 2/12).
