The Dolan family is at it again. It announced a restructuring of Cablevision Systems Corp. that could include a sale of assets, but the news release made no mention of hiring an investment bank to help in the review process. Traditionally, the Dolans have tapped the Bear Stearns Cos. as a financial adviser -- more specifically Alan Schwartz and his media team. However, Bear Stearns is now a part of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., and Schwartz remains at large, considering his future. So who will win Cablevision's business?
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Cablevision has used other banks besides Bear, mostly because Bear was advising on the family's various attempts to take the company private, and thus conflicted out on other assignments. Cablevision has turned to Morgan Stanley and Lehman Brothers Inc. to review the family's two offers. However, the company hasn't turned to them in recent deals since Bear all but collapsed; instead it seems to be testing the waters by spreading the business around. For example, in
the recent purchase of Sundance Channel, Cablevision employed Goldman, Sachs & Co. as its adviser, and in the
acquisition of Newsday from Tribune Co. it used Banc of America Securities LLC to assist its other mainstay adviser, Merrill Lynch & Co. It's entirely possible that the short time between those deals -- five days -- made it difficult for Merrill to advise on both.
In the end, Merrill, which has an established relationship with Cablevision, is the firm most likely to benefit from Bear's fall. Or Cablevision is just waiting for Schwartz to find a new home. -
Matthew Wurtzel
