* Creditors fight over stake in dick clark productions
* Questions over valuation to be heard at March trial
By Emily Chasan and Deepa Seetharaman
NEW YORK, Dec 31 (Reuters) - When U.S. television legend
Dick Clark rings in his 36th new year in Times Square on
Thursday night, some creditors of the bankrupt Six Flags Inc
As creditors fight for control of the U.S. theme park company, Six Flags' 39 percent stake in dick clark productions has drawn increasing attention.
Six Flags acquired the stake in the producer of TV shows like "The American Music Awards," "The Golden Globes," and "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve" in June 2007 for $39.7 million.
This is not the biggest asset held by Six Flags, which runs 20 theme parks in North America, but it is growing to be one of the most contentious. The company's unsecured creditors demand to know more about what the stake is now worth, while other creditors are fighting over which Six Flags unit owns it.
Some wonder whether it could even be sold.
"There's a still-meaningful value that can be associated with those properties over time," said Fitch Ratings analyst Mike Simonton.
That value could drive interest from media conglomerates and private equity firms, Simonton added.
The production company is viewed as holding valuable, iconic television programs, but has been hit in the past few years by the television writers' strike and the overall decline in advertising revenue.
Yet dick clark has had success with ventures such as "So
You Think You Can Dance", which it co-produces with CKX Inc's
"Given that the overall size of the transaction wouldn't be intimidating to production companies ... it's possible there could be a meaningful amount of interest in acquiring those properties," said Simonton.
The company's unsecured creditors committee, has recently asked that Six Flags take further steps to put values on its assets, including dick clark productions. The value of dick clark is expected to be discussed by valuation experts at a trial in U.S. bankruptcy court in March.
CAUGHT IN CREDITORS' TUSSLE
All this comes amid a creditors' fight over the value of Six Flags as a whole and who will control it when it exits bankruptcy.
Six Flags acquired its stake in dick clark as part of a $175 million buyout led by RedZone Capital, which holds the majority 60 percent stake in the production company. Dan Snyder, who also owns the Washington Redskins National Football League team, is the chairman of both Six Flags and RedZone.
RedZone and Six Flags bought the company from Mosaic Media Group, which had purchased the once-publicly-traded company for $140 million in February 2002.
"At the time it was a somewhat of an odd use of cash for a company with a high debt load facing an uncertain economic outlook," Simonton said.
Six Flags has said in court filings that it uses dick clark's library to "provide additional product offerings" in its theme parks, and that the investment gives it additional sponsorship and promotion opportunities.
Six Flags filed for bankruptcy protection in June 2009.
In a court document filed earlier this month, Six Flags disclosed that after the 2007 acquisition it reassigned its interest in dick clark from its Six Flags Inc parent company to its Six Flags Theme Park unit "to correct an error in drafting."
Creditors of the parent company say they are planning to fight this.
"We believe that's our asset and it needs to come back," said John Cunningham, a White & Case attorney representing Six Flags' creditors led by Stark Investments who have created one of two reorganization plans proposed for Six Flags.
"We think that raises all sorts of issues including fraudulent transfer claims," Cunningham said.
Six Flags did not respond to requests for comment.
The case is In re Premier International Holdings Inc. and Six Flags Inc., U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware, No. 09-12019. (Reporting by Emily Chasan and Deepa Seetharaman, editing by Matthew Lewis)
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