Adviser to Help New World on Debt Options

New World Entertainment, which expects to post a loss for 1987, said Wednesday that it has retained a financial adviser to help evaluate alternatives to the company’s $285 million in bonds--including the possibility of an exchange offer.

The company did not elaborate on its statement, but such an offer might include exchanging the company’s current bonds for a new issue of debt securities, thereby gaining a breather on interest payments for some period.

Although the adviser was not identified, a spokesman for the investment firm Drexel Burnham Lambert confirmed that his company has been retained. Drexel made its reputation in the high-yield, high-risk “junk bond” business, but it was not the underwriter of New World’s bonds.

Stock Closes Down

Earlier this week, Moody’s Investors Service said it is reviewing the company’s B3-rated bonds for possible downgrading because of a “worsening financial condition,” including a deteriorating cash position and anticipated operating losses.

During the nine months ended Sept. 30, 1987, New World’s cash and marketable securities declined $107 million, leaving about $114 million available. Since then, the company has repaid about $21 million in bank debt. In an article published in Wednesday’s editions of the Wall Street Journal, company Co-Chairman Harry Evans Sloan said New World has about $80 million in cash.

Sloan and Co-Chairman Lawrence L. Kuppin, who control nearly 70% of the company’s voting stock, did not return a call from The Times. However, the Journal article also quoted Sloan as saying the company believed that it has resolved its cash flow troubles.

New World stock closed Wednesday at $2.75 a share, down 12.5 cents, on the American Stock Exchange.