John Malone’s Liberty Interactive Plans to Split Into Two Tracking Stocks

By Edmund Lee - Thu Feb 23 21:21:37 GMT 2012

John Malone’s Liberty Interactive Corp. (LINTA), the media company that owns stakes in QVC Inc., AOL Inc. (AOL), Time Warner Inc. and others, said it plans to split its shares into two tracking stocks.

The Liberty Interactive tracking stock will include Liberty’s interests in home-shopping services QVC and HSN Inc. (HSNI), as well as QVC bonds and $1.1 billion of Liberty’s publicly traded senior notes and debentures, the company said today. Liberty Ventures will include interests in Expedia Inc. (EXPE), Time Warner (TWX), Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC) and AOL as well as $1.25 billion of cash and $3 billion of Liberty’s publicly traded debentures.

“We expect this recapitalization to highlight each tracking stock’s operations and financial aspects of the attributed assets, provide greater investor choice, and raise capital while maintaining an optimal capital and tax efficient structure for Liberty,” Chief Executive Officer Greg Maffei said in the statement.

Stockholders will receive 1 share of Liberty Interactive for each Class A or Class B share currently owned. They will get 1 share of Liberty Ventures for every 20 Class A or Class B Liberty shares.

Shares of Englewood, Colorado-based Liberty Interactive gained 2.3 percent to $18.39 at the close in New York. They have advanced 13 percent this year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Edmund Lee in New York at elee310@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Ville Heiskanen at vheiskanen@bloomberg.net

Originally posted here:
John Malone’s Liberty Interactive Plans to Split Into Two Tracking Stocks