Hal Gaba. Gaba did not continue to growth of the group or conduct any acquisitions; instead, he focused on selling the group as the financial markets began to recover from the deep recession of 1990-92 and the collapse of Drexel Burnham Lambert. During the 1989-1991 period, virtually no takeover activity was undertaken and asset values in general experienced steep, if temporary, declines. Gaba and Lear successfully exited the broadcasting business with the sale of Act III Broadcasting to ABRY, closing in 1995. ABRY had embarked on a similar "roll-up" of independent stations a few years earlier, including the LMA strategy. Lear sold Act III Broadcasting for over $500 million (a 600% return on his original investment), despite receiving a far lower estimate of $15 million only a few years earlier from Boston Ventures, a group that had sought to acquire the stations during the height of the 1990 recession. The Act III stations then became part of Sullivan Broadcasting, a partnership between ABRY and Dan Sullivan, who had previously run Clear Channel Communications' television station group. This record-setting valuation came despite Fox's policy of not allowing acquisitions that resulted in one company controlling more than eight Fox affiliates, which acted as a deterrent on some potential bidders. Sinclair Broadcast Group then bought Sullivan in 1998; Sinclair had also implemented the LMA concept back in 1991. Shortly afterwards, Sullivan announced that they would retain the Utica station WFXV and sister station WPNY-LD through his new company Quorum Broadcasting (which was eventually be absorbed into what is now Nexstar Media Group in 2003). Financing Although majority-controlled by Norman Lear, Act III Broadcasting was financed by a large group of other Wall Street interests and shareholders. The company was seeded by Lear, but quickly added the General Motors Pension Fund as a shareholder. Debt was provided by GE Capital. The company was comprehensively refinanced in 1989 with a $100m bond offering taken down by Prudential Insurance. The Prudential notes were themselves re-financed following the recovery from the 1989-92 recession, in 1993 at a lower rate. Act III's judicious use of leverage in an industry historically financed with limited partnerships was considered a model of leveraged finance and resulted in a case study at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. The eventual exit at over a 600% return on investment marks one of the most successful broadcast ventures in industry