Dialog Raises More Cash, Promises to Cut Debt.

Shares in Dialog Corp slid 7% to 111 pence yesterday as the UK online information provider said it would soon be in a position to announce action to reduce its 140m pound ($227m) debt. Flotation of its 70% owned Muscat search engine company has been mooted as an option as Dialog promised " a substantial reduction" in group debt. In the meantime, Dialog has raised another $25m in the form of a loan from Chase Manhattan. In return, it has had to issue the bank with options to buy 1.5 million shares (around 1% of the total) and an option to buy a further 1.5 million shares if the loans are not repaid by an agreed timetable. Dialog's debt problems stem from its ambitious 300m-pound ($488.5m) acquisition of Knight-Ridder Inc's information business in 1987.