Loews Cineplex Entertainment Corp. is desperately trying to save the jobs of its honchos.

The bankrupt movie theater chain has filed a motion in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan seeking to kill the subpoenas issued by a creditors’ committee, which is trying to dump senior management, according to Dow Jones.

“The committee’s actions are transparently tactical and clearly designed to disrupt and distract senior management from its ongoing efforts to complete the hundreds of tasks necessary to prepare a plan of reorganization,” Loews said in its motion, according to the wire service’s account.

A hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.

Last Friday, the creditors’ committee sent subpoenas to John Walker, senior vice president and chief financial officer of Loews Entertainment, Chief Executive Lawrence Ruisi and Travis Reid, president of Loews Cineplex United States. The committee also subpoenaed Jim Millstein, a managing director of Lazard Freres & Co., the company’s financial adviser during its reorganization.

The creditors’ committee wants to depose the four executives at a hearing on Friday. It will also try to end Loews’ exclusive period to file a plan of reorganization.

Loews filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Feb. 15. It also signed a letter of intent to be acquired by a group led by Canada’s Onex Corp., as part of a restructuring of its $1 billion of bank loans and bonds.

Today’s Deal News

• Medtronic Inc. said it will buy MiniMed Inc. for $48 per share in cash and Medical Research Group Inc. for $420 million in cash and stock. The combined value of the two deals: $3.7 billion.

• Alcatel, which terminated merger discussions with Lucent Technologies Inc. on Tuesday, said on Wednesday that it anticipated further consolidation in the telecommunications equipment market, but said that it is ”not hunting” for mergers or acquisitions.

• Legg Mason Inc. said it has agreed to acquire Private Capital Management LP for $682 million in cash and “earnout” payments that could increase the total value of the deal to $1.38 billion. Legg Mason said it expects to raise part of the purchase price in the capital markets.

• Tyco International Inc. is close to reaching an agreement to buy C.R. Bard Inc. for about $3.1 billion in stock, according to The Wall Street Journal. Under the terms, Tyco plans to offer $60 in stock for each share of Bard, a 30 percent premium to Bard’s Tuesday closing price of $46.

Earnings News

• Shortly after announcing that its anticipated deal with Lucent Technologies had collapsed, Alcatel SA warned it will report a net loss of three billion euros ($2.56 billion) in the second quarter, blaming worsening market conditions and restructuring costs associated with its decision to get out of cell-phone-handset manufacturing.

• Sun Microsystems Inc. warned after Tuesday’s market close that current quarter per-share earnings on a pro forma operating basis would come in between 2 and 4 cents, well below the consensus forecast of 6 cents. Including charges, the company said net results for the quarter would be a bit above break even. Sun forecasted that sales for the current fiscal quarter would amount to $3.8-4 billion, compared with the $4.4 billion consensus estimate. The company blamed weakening economic conditions, especially in Europe. However, analysts were quoted in published reports that sun was having trouble selling its newest generation of servers.

Today’s Layoff News

• Dot-com job cuts have “only” amounted to 13,419 in May, down 24 percent from April’s record high of 17,554, according to outplacement firm Challenger Gray & Christmas Inc. However it said the total 64,983 cuts made so far this year is already 60 percent higher than the layoffs counted during all of 2000.

• Roche plans to fire more than 3,000 people at its flagship pharmaceuticals division, about 8 per cent of the unit’s workforce, according to FT.com. The Swiss healthcare company may also revamp its manufacturing division, outsourcing more production. This could mean the loss of a further 800 jobs. At least 40 per cent of the cuts are expected to affect Roche’s U.S. headquarters in Nutley, N.J.

• Cognos Inc., a maker of business intelligence software, said it will cut 10 percent of its workforce in order to reduce costs after announcing on Wednesday that it expects revenue and earnings in its first quarter to be negatively affected by the slowing economy.

IPO News

• General Maritime Corp., which provides international seaborne crude oil transportation services within the Atlantic Basin, increased its anticipated price range from $15-$19 to $17-$19. It also removed ING Baring and added ABN AMRO Rothschild to its underwriter list.

• Monolithic System Technology Inc., which develops memory technologies used by the semiconductor industry and electronic product manufacturers, replaced J.P. Morgan with A.G. Edwards as lead underwriter and removed Wit Soundview from its underwriter list.

• HPL Technologies Inc., which provides software that helps semiconductor companies to enhance the efficiency of the semiconductor production process, filed for an IPO.

From the CFO.com “Brief” Case

• A federal judge on Tuesday approved a $192.5-million race discrimination lawsuit settlement between Coca-Cola Co. and more than 2,000 of its black workers. U.S. District Judge Richard Story called the settlement an “historic agreement” that would benefit Coca-Cola and future generations of black workers at the soft-drink company.

• Alliance Fiber Optic Products Inc. said Tuesday its board of directors has adopted a stockholder rights plan.

• Black & Decker issued $400 million in 10-year notes in the private placement market, led by Banc of America Securities Inc. and J.P. Morgan. The 7.125 percent coupon was priced to yield 7.236 percent, or 174 basis points over Treasurys. It was rated Baa2 by Moody’s and BBB by Standard & Poor’s.