June 12 (Bloomberg) -- Billionaires Kirk Kerkorian, Edgar Bronfman Jr., Marvin Davis and John Malone are preparing for battle as Vivendi Universal SA, the world's second-biggest media company, seeks buyers for its U.S. entertainment assets.

Paris-based Vivendi will accept offers for the assets by the end of this month, said three people who asked not to be named. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., 67 percent owned by Kerkorian, hired Rothschild to advise on a bid and is reviewing Vivendi Universal Entertainment's books, the people said. Bronfman and Malone's Liberty Media Corp. have said they plan to bid, as has Davis.

Vivendi is selling the assets, which include theme parks and Universal studios, to help cut debt that ballooned when former Chief Executive Officer Jean-Marie Messier turned the water utility into a media company to rival AOL Time Warner Inc. Current CEO Jean-Rene Fourtou has said he plans to sell 16 billion euros ($18.8 billion) of assets by the end of 2004.

``The list of bidders that can buy the entire unit -- the studios, the TV networks, the theme parks -- is pretty thin,'' said Michael Nathanson, a New York-based Sanford C. Bernstein analyst who rates Vivendi ``market perform.'' who doesn't own any Vivendi shares. Vivendi wants ``some closure,'' he added.

Davis plans to bid for the assets, which include Universal studios and theme parks, and for Universal Music, people familiar with the plan said this week. Davis in November planned to offer about $20 billion for the units, people familiar with the bid said then. Allan Mayer, a spokesman for Davis, yesterday declined to comment. Other bidders may include Viacom Inc., the third-largest U.S. media company and owner of the MTV, CBS and Nickelodeon networks.

Narrowing the Field

Vivendi plans to narrow the field to one or two candidates in July and to complete the sale of the U.S. entertainment assets by the end of the year, a person familiar with the transaction said.

Fourtou, a former drug company executive who took over at Vivendi a year ago when Messier was fired, told investors in April that the company has no plans to sell Universal's music unit, which is a separate division from Vivendi Universal Entertainment, for the moment.

Vivendi opened the books to potential bidders, including MGM, earlier this month, another person said. A bid by MGM depends on what it finds during due diligence, the person said.

Lea Porteneuve, a spokeswoman for Santa Monica, California- based MGM, and spokesman Joe Fitzgerald both declined to comment. Telephone messages left by Bloomberg News at the office of Terry Christensen, a spokesman and attorney for Kerkorian's Las Vegas- based Tracinda Corp., weren't returned.

Vivendi spokeswoman Anita Larsen declined to comment on the timing of the sale.

``They want to wrap things up before they go on summer holiday,'' Nathanson said of the Vivendi executives. ``This has gone on long enough.''

Bronfman Bid

Bronfman plans to bid in ``late June'' for the entire U.S. entertainment unit, said a person familiar with the plan, who asked not to be identified. Bronfman will stick to Vivendi's calendar, the person said Wednesday. Bronfman's family owns a 4.2 percent stake in Vivendi.

Another potential buyer for the businesses, which include the USA cable-television network, theme parks and the TV producer of ``Law & Order,'' is General Electric Co.'s NBC TV network, Vivendi Director Claude Bebear has said.

NBC spokesman Cory Shields declined to comment.

``There's much interest in Hollywood'' for those assets, said Bert-Jan de Ruiter, an analyst at Effectenbank Stroeve NV in Amsterdam, who has a ``buy'' rating on Vivendi shares.

Vivendi said earlier this month that it may consider an initial public offering of the unit if it doesn't get the ``right'' price. ``A fallback solution could be an IPO,'' Chief Financial Officer Jacques Espinasse said.

`Pretty Thin'

Some buyers may only be interested in particular assets.

Viacom CEO Sumner Redstone has said he's interested in some of Vivendi's entertainment properties, such as the cable assets, which include the Sci-Fi Channel. New York-based Viacom, is unlikely to acquire the cable assets because Vivendi wants to sell the entertainment unit as a whole, a person familiar with the talks said.

Viacom spokesman Carl Folta declined to comment on the timing of the bids.

Liberty spokesman Michael Erickson also declined to comment on the timing of bids.

``Our potential interest in these assets lies in the movie and the television studios and the cable networks'' and their stake in USA Interactive, Liberty Media CEO Robert Bennett said last month on an analyst conference call.

Timing

``Given the Vivendi statement that they hope to have a deal completed by the end of the year, I expect that we will know with at least respect to us one way or another in the next couple of months,'' Bennett told analysts May 15.

Vivendi shares rose as much as 0.7 percent to 16.5 euros and traded at 16.4 euros as of 12:23 a.m. in Paris.

The stock has gained 12 percent since May 21, when Bronfman said he was trying to form an investor group to buy back Vivendi's U.S. entertainment assets. Bronfman's group, which may include Cablevision Systems Corp., has lined up Wachovia Corp. to arrange debt financing for the offer.