BALLY <BLY> CONSIDERING SALE OF SIX FLAGS
Bally Manufacturing Corp said it is
considering the sale of its Six Flag theme amusement park unit
and would use the proceeds to pay off debt.
    In addition to the possible sale of the amusement parks,
Bally plans to sell a minority stake in its health club chain
to the public. The company will register a proposed offering
with the Securities and Exchange Commission for 20 to 30 pct of
the health clubs soon, spokesman William Peltier told Reuters.
    "Selling Six Flags is definitely under consideration,"
Peltier said in response to an inquiry. He said the company
would use much of the income from the amusement park chain,
were it to be sold, to repay debt.
    Six Flags might sell for as much as 300 mln dlrs, analysts
said. The health club chain, the nation's largest, is valued at
350 to 375 mln dlrs, they said.
    Bally reportedly already has been approached about Six
Flags by several prospective buyers.
    The company needs the cash to begin paying back a 1.6 mln
dlrs mountain of debt.
    Bally recently completed a 439 mln dlrs acquisition of the
Golden Nugget casino hotel in Atlantic City from Golden Nugget
Inc <GNG.N>.
    The purchase pushed its long-term debt to 1.6 billion dlrs,
or almost 2.7 times its equity of 600 mln dlrs.
    Bally's 325-unit health and tennis clubs had revenues in
1986 of more than 450 mln dlrs, or about 28 pct of Bally's
total revenues of 1.64 billion dlrs.
    Bally acquired Six Flags for 147.4 mln dlrs in January 1982
from Penn Central Corp. Bally bought the Great America theme
park in Gurnee, Ill., in May 1984 for 113.2 mln dlrs from
Marriott Corp <mhs>.
    In 1986 the parks had pretax operating profit of 48.6 mln
dlrs on revenues of 369.4 mln dlrs.
    The clubs and equipment unit combined to post operating
profit of 60.4 mln dlrs on revenues of 475.6 mln dlrs in 1986,
of which 456.2 mln came from the clubs.
    The company earlier this month said it will take a charge
to earnings in the first quarter of 17.3 mln dlrs as a result
of its deal to buy back 2.6 mln of its common shares from real
estate developer Donald Trump.
    Under a February 21 deal, Bally agreed to buy the 2.6 mln
of the 3.06 mln shares held by Trump at 24 dlrs a share, or
62.4 mln dlrs, plus 6.2 mln dlrs related expenses in exchange
for Trump not seeking control of the company for 10 years.
    The deal also requires Bally to buy Trump's remaining
shares for 33 dlrs a share if the stock price does not reach
that level by February 21, 1988.
 Reuter
