P.M. BRIEFING : Japanese Unlikely MGM Suitors
Japanese companies pegged as likely suitors for Hollywood’s MGM/UA Communications Co. have no interest in buying the U.S. film maker, spokesmen said today.
Industry analysts had expected that trading company C. Itoh and Co. and consumer electronics firm Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. might make bids for MGM/UA, which on Tuesday broke off its $1.5-billion sale to media conglomerate Qintex Australia Ltd.
Matsushita rival Sony earlier this month spent $3.5 billion to buy Hollywood’s Columbia Pictures.
“Qintex approached several Japanese firms about working together on the MGM/UA deal, but we declined,” a C. Itoh spokesman said.
“We intend to focus on our core business,” the Matsushita spokesman said.
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