Qintex agrees to sell its remaining assets; Halmis get control via RHI Entertainment; Skase takes his licks for 'wanting to be like Trump.' (Qintex Entertainment, Halmi family, Daniel Skase)

Qintex agrees to sell its remaining assets; Halmis get control via RHI Entertainment 

Skase takes his licks for `wanting to be like Trump'

Qintex Entertainment Inc., a 43-percent owned subsidiary of Qintex Australia Ltd., Tuesday agreed to sell its remaining assets, in two separate deals that could amount to about $65.4 million.

If approved in July by the bankruptcy court, the two sales will effectively put Qintex out of business. Qintex filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code Oct. 19, after failing to make a $5.9 million payment to MCA Television Ltd.

"Qintex was relying on Qintex Australia for deep-pocket financing," said Theodore MacKinney, senior vice president and chief financial officer of Qintex Entertainment Inc. "When that dried up it left Qintex with a very large obligation."

The company was troubled by Qintex Australia Ltd.'s failure to buy Culver City-based MGM/UA Communications Corp. for $1.5 billion last October. That deal collapsed when Qintex failed to make a $50 million downpayment. When the parent company faltered, Qintex Entertainment was left without crucial funding to continue its projects and secure distribution deals.

For $42.4 million, Qintex sold its library, accounts receivables and development projects to RHI Entertainment -- a New York-based television production company formed by Robert Halmi Sr., chairman of the board, and Robert Halmi Jr., president.

The deal marks a return to independence for the Halmi family, which has been active on the Hollywood production front for years.

Qintex Entertainment was formed following the merger of Hal Roach Studios Inc. and Robert Halmi Inc., which became wholly owned subsidiaries of QEI on April 11, 1988. As part of the deal, the Halmi team became board members of Qintex Entertainment. Robert Halmi Sr. said that the relationship between him and the Qintex management team was often "tense" and the establishment of RHI was a "father's day present negotiated by (his) son."

RHI bought Qintex's 1,000-title library in the deal, including the mini-series "Lonesome Dove" and "The Incident." Other key titles in the library includes the "Hallmark Hall of Fame" series, which were produced by the Robert Halmi Inc.

Halmi Sr. said the library was the key asset acquired in the $42 million deal. An analyst estimated that "Lonesome Dove" could earn $4 million in the next few years alone.

"We're buying all of Halmi movies back, which is a substantial part of the Qintex library" said Robert Halmi Sr. "What we have, with the acquisition, is a library to distribute and RHI is well on the way to becoming a full-service media company. We will distribute and produce. We plan to have a major distribution arm with a strong European presence."

The projects in development purchased from Qintex were a movie based on the life of Josephine Baker, a special for Chrysler Motors and four syndicated television series, including one based on "Dracula" and one based on "Frankenstein." The "Dracula" property is due for release this fall and has cleared 92 percent of the domestic market, according to Halmi.

"With the pictures in development we plan to produce eight films a year and two new series a year, every year," said Halmi.

According to the elder Halmi, the sale is the end of an ordeal. He said that he was opposed to the MGM/UA acquisition. As part of the deal, Qintex Entertainment would have assumed control of MGM/UA, if the deal were completed.

He said the he and his son were consistently outvoted by Daniel Skase, Australian media mogul and chairman of Qintex, who had set his sights on MGM/UA.