Sumner Redstone's National Amusements opposes Viacom's planned sale of Paramount stake

REUTERS - Sumner Redstone's privately-held movie theater company said on Friday it opposes the sale of a stake in Viacom Inc's Paramount Pictures, saying that any transaction could hurt the chances of a transaction involving all of Viacom.

National Amusements Inc, through which the 93-year-old media mogul owns 80 percent of Viacom, said in a statement that Paramount was "one of Viacom's most valuable assets" and any short-term benefits of a stake sale would be outweighed by the "negative impact on Viacom's future strategic flexibility to best capitalize on this important asset."

A Viacom spokesman did not immediately return a request for comment.

The statement comes two days after Reuters was first to report that Dalian Wanda Group is interested in buying the Paramount stake.

A sale of a stake of Paramount would "chill the interest of parties that may be interested in a larger transaction involving all of Viacom," National Amusements said in the statement.

Through National Amusements, Sumner Redstone also owns 80 percent of the voting shares of CBS Corp. Viacom split off from CBS in 2006, but many investors have said they hope the two will merge again.

(Reporting by Jessica Toonkel; Editing by Bill Rigby and Nick Zieminski)