Aug. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Sam Zell, the real-estate billionaire who took Tribune Co. private last year, said the newspaper publisher has no liquidity issues and can handle scheduled debt payments for the next seven years.

Zell said in an interview today that he anticipates Tribune, publisher of the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times, will pay off the $593 million remaining principal balance of a $1.5 billion bank loan that's due in June 2009.

``Beyond that, we don't have any real maturities that aren't covered until 2015,'' Zell told Bloomberg Television. How much Tribune raises in asset sales will depend on the performance of the business and opportunities that arise, he said.

A deepening drop in newspaper advertising sales this year forced Zell to accelerate what was intended to be a 2010 business plan and redesign of Tribune's publications, he said. Chicago- based Tribune is trying to manage $12.5 billion in debt and lower costs by cutting jobs, seeking a buyer for the Chicago Cubs baseball team and exploring options for headquarters buildings in Los Angeles and Chicago. The company sold Newsday in July.

Zell anticipates a sale of the Cubs franchise and Wrigley Field by the end of the year for ``a lot'' of money, he said, declining to be more specific on the price.

``We have other assets that are on our questionable list, and we'll deal with them as opportunities arise,'' Zell said.

`Pretty Comfortable'

The company's two-year loan is first in line for repayments from asset sales, and was priced at 2.5 percentage points over the London interbank offered rate. It now pays a spread of 2.75 percentage points over Libor. Three-month Libor, a lending benchmark, is 2.81 percentage points.

``We're pretty comfortable with our liquidity position,'' Zell said. ``We're also comfortable that we have other assets that are not core to what we do that could in effect provide liquidity if necessary.''

Tribune's 4.88 percent bonds due in 2010 were unchanged at 62 cents on the dollar today, according to Trace, the bond-price reporting service of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. The yield is 32.46 percent.

Tribune also owns 23 broadcast television stations and cable channel WGN America.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah Rabil in New York at srabil@bloomberg.net; Greg Miles in New York at gmiles1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 21, 2008 18:07 EDT