Pioneer Buys 5.1% of Live Entertainment

Pioneer Electronic Corp., a Japanese consumer electronics concern, has acquired preferred stock that’s convertible into 5.1%, or 531,632 common shares, of Live Entertainment Inc., a Van Nuys home video and music distributor and retailer.

According to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, on July 3 Pioneer bought 60,000 Live convertible preferred shares for $1,000 each, or $60 million, from New Carolco Investments B.V., a Netherlands corporation. Of those shares, 15,000 are convertible into 531,632 common shares of stock. Pioneer said in the filing that it purchased the stock for “investment purposes.”

Live is 48%-owned by Carolco Pictures Inc., a Los Angeles film producer.

Separately, Live said it renamed its home video subsidiary Live Home Video Inc. The subsidiary was previously called International Video Entertainment Inc., or IVE. Live said it changed the unit’s name to more closely associate it with the parent company.

Live also said that Live Home Video’s Family Home Entertainment label would release the box-office hit “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” on video Oct. 4.

And Live Entertainment said it applied for the listing of its common stock on the New York Stock Exchange. Live Entertainment currently trades on the NASDAQ National Market System. The company expects to begin Big Board trading on Wednesday.