Tri-Star’s Plan to Buy UA Theater Chain Looks Shaky

Tri-Star Pictures’ ambitious plan to spend nearly $500 million to acquire a movie-theater chain from United Artists Communications appears to be on the verge of collapse.

Stewart Blair, the newly named president and chief executive of United Artists Communications, said in a telephone interview Monday that the two companies have not conferred for at least 60 to 90 days.

If negotiations end, Blair said, his company’s new management does not plan to seek other buyers for the theater unit, now ranked the nation’s largest with more than 1,400 screens.

As reported by The Times last week, Tri-Star’s exclusive right to negotiate the purchase will expire early this month, when new directors are named to UA Communications’ board by Tele-Communications Inc., which acquired 55% of UA Communications’ stock last month.

Last July, when Tele-Communications first announced its plan to acquire control of UA Communications, it also disclosed an agreement in principle to sell UA’s movie-theater chain and other non-cable television assets to Tri-Star. Among other things, the sale to Tri-Star was conditioned on Tele-Communications’ gaining an 80% stake in UA Communications, which it has not done.

Victor Kaufman, Tri-Star’s chairman and chief executive, confirmed Monday that no talks have occurred for 60 to 90 days. “We were in registration and they hadn’t taken over control of UA,” Kaufman said. Asked whether securities laws prohibited negotiations of a previously disclosed deal, Kaufman said, “It’s more complicated than that.” He declined to elaborate.

“I expect we will be speaking shortly,” the Tri-Star chairman continued. “We think it’s uncertain and we don’t know what will happen.”

In October, Tri-Star agreed to buy the smaller Loews Theatre Management chain of theaters for $300 million, but Kaufman insisted at the time that “The UA deal is going forward.” On Nov. 5, Kaufman said again that he “wanted the deal,” after reports surfaced that Tri-Star might issue 35% of its stock to Tele-Communications as a partial payment for the theater chain.

On Nov. 19, Tri-Star announced that it sold 9% of its stock to New York investor Ronald O. Perelman to help finance its Loews acquisition. Kaufman said at the time, however, that he didn’t expect the sale to jeopardize the company’s talks with Tele-Communications.