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TheBuzz
Erika Engle
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Corporate shuffle leaves different names, same owners at KGMB
THE purchase of KGMB-TV was described in a news release from Virginia-based
MCG Capital Corp. yesterday as a $40 million investment in
GMC Television Broadcasting LLC.
"A new era of prosperity begins for KGMB9 under the leadership of our newest partner, Rick Blangiardi," said GMC Chief Executive Officer Douglas Greenlaw, of Greenlaw-Marshall Communications LLC, of South Carolina.
Huh?
Where's HITV Operating Co. Inc., heretofore cited as the station's buyer?
Was it left abruptly at Holsten's Ice Cream a la Tony, Carmela and A.J. Soprano in Sunday night's controversial "Sopranos" finale on HBO?
No, but connecting the ownership dots is about as circuitous as trying to figure out what "Sopranos" creator David Chase was doing or going to do in his now-departed drama.
Anybody who engages in due diligence for a living deserves a medal for slogging through the complexities.
In addition to checking facts, though, they probably also have to do math. Count your columnist out.
HITV License Subsidiary Inc. is still the buyer and licensee of KGMB, as far as the Federal Communications Commission is concerned. MCG Capital is also a party to the transaction, as noted in the 47-page asset purchase agreement. It is the commercial finance company that provided what the news release called "one-stop financing" including debt and equity capital for the KGMB purchase.
According to supporting documents filed with the FCC, the ownership of the station is interwoven among five entities with common officers.
The 12 owners of HITV License include GMC Television principals Greenlaw, Chief Operating Officer and director Gary Marshall, as well as nine other individuals including a director and officers of MCG Capital.
HITV Operating Co. is also listed as an owner of the license subsidiary. It is the owner with 100 percent of the votes.
HITV Operating Co. also has 12 owners -- the same ones, with the same titles, plus GMC Television Broadcasting Holdings Inc., which has 100 percent of the votes in HITV Operating.
GMC Television Broadcasting Holdings has -- yup -- 12 owners. Same ones, same titles, except that GMC Television Broadcasting LLC is the owner with 100 percent of the votes.
The LLC's owners are the same except for No. 12, MCG Capital Corp., with 100 percent of the votes.
MCG is a publicly traded company controlled by eight directors, but in which no individual owns more than five percent of its outstanding voting stock, according to the ownership disclosure to the FCC.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin. Call 529-4747, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210, Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached at:
eengle@starbulletin.com