NATIONAL

TIME WARNER, COMCAST SEAL DEAL TO BUY ADELPHIA

After months of haggling and fending off a bid from a rival suitor, Time Warner and Comcast have sealed a deal to purchase the assets of Adelphia Communications, the bankrupt cable TV company based in Colorado.

The $17.6 billion cash-and-stock deal announced yesterday will also allow Time Warner to float shares in its cable subsidiary, opening the possibility of even more consolidation in the cable industry.

The deal must still be approved by regulators and a bankruptcy court, but company officials and analysts did not anticipate significant hurdles to the deal closing.The companies said the multipart deal could take up to another year to close. Time Warner CEO Dick Parsons, speaking to reporters on a conference call, described the deal as an “elegant, albeit complex” transaction that would allow the company to stay in the rapidly evolving cable-TV industry while also giving it a separately traded stock that it could use as currency to make other acquisitions.

– Associated Press

IN THE COURTS

EX-SG COWEN DIRECTOR PLEADS GUILTY TO INSIDER TRADES OVER PIPES

A former managing director at SG Cowen Securities pleaded guilty to insider trading for selling short shares of HealthExtras in 2001 after he learned the company planned a private-equity offering.

Guillaume Pollet, 40, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Sandra L. Townes in Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S. Attorney Roslynn R. Mauskopf said in a statement.

Pollet faces up to 10 years in prison. In a related action, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil lawsuit against Pollet yesterday, accusing him of fraud and insider trading. The SEC claimed he sold short shares of 10 companies that were involved in private investment in public equity, or PIPEs. In some cases, SG Cowen structured the transaction for company clients, the SEC said in a statement. Pollet couldn’t be reached for comment. Ronald Fischetti and Joseph Tacopina, lawyers representing Pollet, didn’t return calls for comment. Jean Calleja, a spokesman for SG Cowen, also didn’t return a call for comment.

Pollet’s short-sales “locked in” more than $4 million in trading profits for SG Cowen, the SEC said in a statement.

– Bloomberg News

REAL ESTATE

450 LEXINGTON AVENUE SOLD

A partnership of Murray Hill Properties and real estate investor David Werner have entered a contract to purchase the 911,000-square-foot, Class A office Tower at 450 Lexington Ave. The property is located on Lexington Avenue and East 45th Street, and built on top of the Grand Central Post Office. The land is under a 100-year ground lease from the U.S. Post Office.

The tower, built in 1992, serves as the headquarters of Davis Polk & Wardwell. In July 2002, the Shorenstein Company purchased the leasehold interest.

According to the trade, the sales price is approximately $500 million, with a closing scheduled by the end of May.

– Special to the Sun

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

QWEST RAISES MCI OFFER TO $30 A SHARE, OR $9.75 BILLION

Qwest Communications International, the no. 4 American local-phone company, will raise its bid for MCI to $30 a share, or $9.75 billion, to derail MCI’s agreement to be bought by Verizon Communications.

MCI shareholders would receive $16 a share in cash and $14 a share in stock, Denver-based Qwest said in a regulatory filing. Qwest also raised $800 million in extra financing from investors, contributing to the increase from $27.50 a share. By adding $810 million to its prior offer, Qwest heightens pressure on MCI’s board to end an agreement to be purchased by Verizon, the largest American local-phone company, for $7.51 billion. Ashburn, Va.-based MCI spurned Qwest’s advances, saying Verizon would make a stronger ally in a battle for large corporate customers. MCI investors, including Elliott Associates LP, said Verizon underpaid.

– Bloomberg News