Adelphia Communications Corp. officially put the for-sale sign on systems
serving 2.75 million subscribers, or one-half of its entire subscriber base.
The MSO said late Wednesday that its board authorized Salomon Smith Barney,
Credit Suisse First Boston and Banc of America LLC to solicit offers for its
systems in Southern California (1.2 million subscribers), Florida (750,000),
Virginia (575,000) and the Southeast (225,000 subs).
'We are ready to solicit formal bids. Based on the many informal expressions
of interest we have received in recent weeks ... I am confident that the steps
we are taking will enable us to achieve our objectives of reducing debt,
deleveraging our balance sheet and creating a stronger Adelphia,' chairman John
Rigas said in a prepared statement.
Adelphia stock has plummeted since the MSO revealed more than $2.3 billion in
off-balance-sheet debt in March.
It faces a possible NASDAQ delisting for failing to file a 10-K with the
Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as many shareholder lawsuits.
Adelphia said there can be no assurance that a solicitation of offers would
lead to actual sales.
