BALLY &lt;BLY> CONSIDERING SALE OF SIX FLAGS

  Bally Manufacturing Corp said it is
  considering the sale of its Six Flag theme amusement park unit
  and would use the proceeds to pay off debt.
      In addition to the possible sale of the amusement parks,
  Bally plans to sell a minority stake in its health club chain
  to the public. The company will register a proposed offering
  with the Securities and Exchange Commission for 20 to 30 pct of
  the health clubs soon, spokesman William Peltier told Reuters.
      "Selling Six Flags is definitely under consideration,"
  Peltier said in response to an inquiry. He said the company
  would use much of the income from the amusement park chain,
  were it to be sold, to repay debt.
      Six Flags might sell for as much as 300 mln dlrs, analysts
  said. The health club chain, the nation's largest, is valued at
  350 to 375 mln dlrs, they said.
      Bally reportedly already has been approached about Six
  Flags by several prospective buyers.
      The company needs the cash to begin paying back a 1.6 mln
  dlrs mountain of debt.
      Bally recently completed a 439 mln dlrs acquisition of the
  Golden Nugget casino hotel in Atlantic City from Golden Nugget
  Inc &lt;GNG.N>.
      The purchase pushed its long-term debt to 1.6 billion dlrs,
  or almost 2.7 times its equity of 600 mln dlrs.
      Bally's 325-unit health and tennis clubs had revenues in
  1986 of more than 450 mln dlrs, or about 28 pct of Bally's
  total revenues of 1.64 billion dlrs.
      Bally acquired Six Flags for 147.4 mln dlrs in January 1982
  from Penn Central Corp. Bally bought the Great America theme
  park in Gurnee, Ill., in May 1984 for 113.2 mln dlrs from
  Marriott Corp &lt;mhs>.
      In 1986 the parks had pretax operating profit of 48.6 mln
  dlrs on revenues of 369.4 mln dlrs.
      The clubs and equipment unit combined to post operating
  profit of 60.4 mln dlrs on revenues of 475.6 mln dlrs in 1986,
  of which 456.2 mln came from the clubs.
      The company earlier this month said it will take a charge
  to earnings in the first quarter of 17.3 mln dlrs as a result
  of its deal to buy back 2.6 mln of its common shares from real
  estate developer Donald Trump.
      Under a February 21 deal, Bally agreed to buy the 2.6 mln
  of the 3.06 mln shares held by Trump at 24 dlrs a share, or
  62.4 mln dlrs, plus 6.2 mln dlrs related expenses in exchange
  for Trump not seeking control of the company for 10 years.
      The deal also requires Bally to buy Trump's remaining
  shares for 33 dlrs a share if the stock price does not reach
  that level by February 21, 1988.
  

