Steel Partners' Porn Plan

Steel Partners' Warren Lichtenstein wants to get into the porn business.

New Frontier Media (NOOF Quote), a distributor of erotic films via cable and satellite television, says Lichtenstein recently indicated he would be interested in "leading a management buyout" of the Colorado-based company.

Shares of New Frontier rose 62 cents, or nearly 8%, to $8.51 on the news of the buyout proposal. The stock has been climbing ever since the company reported better-than-expected first-quarter earnings on Aug. 8.

Earlier this month, TheStreet.com reported that investors and traders on Wall Street were beginning to wonder when Lichtenstein, a so-called activist investor, would begin rattling the cages at New Frontier. A little over a year ago, the $4 billion New York fund began gobbling up shares of the company, which is a rival in the porn business to better-known Playboy (PLA Quote).

New Frontier disclosed Lichtenstein's offer in a regulatory filing late Tuesday. The company says that Lichtenstein made the offer during the company's regularly scheduled board meeting on Aug. 15. New York-based Steel Partners owns 3.55 million shares, or 15%, of New Frontier.

"Lichtenstein expressed a willingness to pay a premium over the market price but declined to state the price per share or the amount or range of premium over market price that he is prepared to offer," the company says. "Senior management of the company has informed the board that senior management has received no substantive information about Mr. Lichtenstein's intentions."