It made a fortune in the 1960s and 1970s converting those drive-ins into shopping malls.The MGM sale has been twice delayed already. It sees opportunities for everything from Virgin in-cinema stores to fresh popcorn.Its partner, Craig Corporation, is one of the biggest cinema operators in California Craig is credited with inventing the drive-in movie-house. No assurances can be given that any transaction will ultimately be consummated."It is thought that Virgin believes there is massive scope for revenue enhancement in British cinemas, which are seen as old-fashioned and unimaginative by American standards. It said: "It is not the company's practice to comment on ongoing transactions, and the company will have no further comment until such time as an agreement is executed. The sighting price is believed to be around pounds 180m. Reading said it was discussing with its largest shareholder, Craig Corporation, the possibility of it participating in the transaction.
It is understood that the other two in the consortium are Virgin and the investment bank CS First Boston.The emergence of the Reading group as the preferred buyer is a blow for Michael Green's Carlton Communications, which appeared last weekend to be the front-runner to capture MGM.It also stymies the expansion hopes of Rank Organisation, another bidder, which had hoped to more than double its considerable UK cinema presence.The Reading group now has exclusive rights to negotiate the deal with Credit Lyonnais's adviser, S G Warburg.The company was obliged to put out an announcement under the rules of its stock exchange, the Nasdaq. The Philadelphia-based Reading Company said it was leading an investor group for MGM, which is Britain's biggest cinema chain with 98 traditional theatres and 18 multiplexes. THE CONVOLUTED saga of the sale of the MGM cinema chain took a fresh twist this weekend as a US investor group containing Richard Branson's Virgin group announced it was now in exclusive negotiations with the seller Credit Lyonnais. Mr Laister said then: "We asked for certain assurances and received them from Robert Maxwell and his son Kevin.'' He said this was after pounds 250m was transferred from MCC to Maxwell's private companies.The trial, which began on 31 May, is expected to last six months, partly because the hearings are being confined to four hours a day in an attempt to reduce the burden on the jury.The hearing ended in dramatic circumstances after only an hour on Friday, when Michael Hill, QC for Mr Trachtenberg, collapsed.The trial is expected to continue on Tuesday.. They are expected to give evidence on the role of Robert Maxwell in the management of MCC, and in particular the conduct of the company's board meetings.In January 1992, the Daily Mirror reported that Kevin Maxwell and his father had co-signed a letter assuring MCC directors that money moved out of the company was not being used for illegal purposes. Mr Laister and Mr Brookes are being called as prosecution witnesses.
Ian Maxwell, Mr Trachtenberg and Mr Bunn deny one charge of conspiracy to defraud. Mr Laister, 66, former managing director and later chairman of Thorn EMI, joined the MCC board in 1985 and replaced Kevin as chairman in December 1991, in the wake of the dramatic and still unsolved mystery of the death of Kevin and Ian's father, Robert Maxwell. Mr Brookes was the company's finance director in 1991. Kevin Maxwell denies two charges of conspiracy to defraud over the alleged use of Maxwell pension fund assets to obtain loans for private Maxwell companies. TWO former directors of Maxwell Communication Corporation, Peter Laister and Basil Brookes, are due to enter the witness box this week in the trial of brothers Kevin and Ian Maxwell, Larry Trachtenberg and Robert Bunn. The company's briefing document for investors says that the project is "subject to certain consents".The Port of Benicia occupies former military land. It is now the largest port-related industrial complex on the Californian coast..
There is no restriction on the type of bulk cargo we can move," he said, adding that the port already had a petroleum coke facility on the site to supply steel makers around the Pacific.Its London stockbroker, Greig, Middleton & Company , was unaware of the opposition and referred to getting the planning approvals "rubber stamped". Phillip Plant, the chief operating officer, dismissed the opposition.Mr Plant was in the UK last week with his executive chairman, Timothy Chadwick, promoting the new issue to institutional investors, and he claimed that it was a routine matter to get planning approval in the US."We have no concern that it is the proper zoning. "Various ex-officials and current members of the civic government, including the former mayor, are questioning whether it is allowed," he said.According to the pathfinder prospectus published in London as part of the flotation, the coke plant proposed by tenants Koch Industries and Hall-Buck Marine would lead to a "significant expansion" away from the port's traditional business of importing cars and trucks from Japan. Members of a citizens' action group, Benicians Against Domes (Bad), hope to block the project either through the planning process or by changing the zoning and land use regulations, which are currently under review. Many of Benicia's 25,000 citizens fear the facility's six 100-ft high silos will mar the skyline in a designated historic site that dates back to the American Civil War more than a century ago.They are also concerned about the environmental impact of the plan and are calling for a detailed review.Some 1,500 have signed a petition since January calling for the land to be rezoned, and lawyers are looking into other ways to block the project.Allan Andrew, a property lawyer and spokesman for Bad, who owns land near the port, said the project, which was due to be completed within a year, could be tied up in the approval process for at least that time.