Five offers in for Vivendi's US assets

Who wants what: * Marvin Davis, Edgar Bronfman Jr and Liberty Media Corp have bid for the Vivendi Music Group and Vivendi Universal Entertainment, which includes the Universal film and television studios, the USA and Sci-Fi cable networks and amusement parks. * Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and NBC have put in bids for the entertainment assets, but not the music assets. * The bidders declined to specify how much they have offered. * Vivendi needs to sell US$7.3 billion in assets to reach its goal of shedding US$18.5 billion in assets by next year.

Vivendi Universal SA, trying to cut US$16 billion of debt, received five offers for its US entertainment assets and may narrow the field of potential buyers starting next week, people familiar with the situation said.

Billionaire Marvin Davis, Edgar Bronfman Jr and John Malone's Liberty Media Corp all bid for the Paris-based company's Vivendi Music Group and Vivendi Universal Entertainment, which includes the Universal film and television studios, the USA and Sci-Fi cable networks and amusement parks, said the people, who asked not to be named.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc and General Electric Co's NBC unit submitted bids for the entertainment assets and not the music unit, some of the people also said.

Viacom Inc, which has said it is mostly interested in the cable networks, didn't submit a bid, two people said.

"It's just a way station on to the final decision," said Harold Vogel, a media analyst and chief executive of Vogel Capital Inc in New York.

"What they know and we know is there's strengths and weaknesses for each player," Vogel said.

Vivendi to sell US$7.3 billion in assets to meet chief executive Jean-Rene Fourtou's goal of shedding US$18.5 billion in assets by next year.

Vivendi will select three bidders to proceed to the next round, Vogel said.

Fourtou's Jean-Marie Messier, transformed the 150-year-old company into the world's second-biggest media company by purchasing the film and music businesses in 2000 from Bronfman for US$30 billion and a 7.5 percent Vivendi stake. AOL Time Warner Inc. is the world's biggest media company.

All the bidders declined to specify how much they offered for the assets, which also include a home-video unit. Vivendi spokeswoman Anita Larsen said the company had received offers, declining to comment further.

Davis, who once owned the 20th Century Fox film studio, submitted a bid, said spokesman Allan Mayer, who declined further comment. Bronfman spokesman Tod Hullin also declined comment, as did Via-com spokeswoman Susan Duffy, Liberty spokesman Michael Erickson, General Electric's NBC spokeswoman Hilary Smith and MGM spokesman Joe Fitzgerald.

Las Vegas-based Tracinda Corp. owns 67 percent of MGM. A telephone message left for Terry Christensen, the spokesman and an attorney for Tracinda, was not returned.

Fourtou April said no decision had been made on whether Universal Music, a separate unit from Vivendi Universal Entertainment, would be put up for sale.

That hasn't stopped Bronfman, Davis and Malone from including it in their bids. Davis in November offered US$15 billion plus US$5 billion in assumed debt for Vivendi Universal Entertainment and the music business, which represents acts such as Sheryl Crow, Erykah Badu and Bon Jovi.

When the sale is completed, Vivendi will revert to a holding company controlling water and telephone utilities.

Vivendi's will meet July 1 and will review the narrowed field of bidders, the people said. It expects to complete the sale six weeks after the board approves those bidders, one person said.