Live Entertainment to Close Vestron Buyout

Live Entertainment Inc., a Van Nuys home-video concern, said it expects to close its delayed acquisition of Vestron Inc. on Wednesday. Live said the deal to acquire Vestron, a Stamford, Conn., video distributor and film production company, was delayed to raise additional financing.

Vestron filed for bankruptcy-court protection last November. In a reorganization plan that was approved by the court early this year, Live agreed to purchase the rights to Vestron’s 1,200-video library for $27.25 million in cash and preferred shares.

In addition, Live was to put up about $20 million in cash at the closing of the transaction, which Live said would be offset by Vestron’s pending sale of foreign video rights from its catalogue. But Live said the sale of the rights was taking longer than expected, and Live had to come up with $30 million in cash--instead of $20 million--to cover the foreign video sale and complete the acquisition.