	harcourt hbj mum on reed reed l rumors harcourt brace jovanovich inc officials were not available for comment on market rumors that it is interested in uiring reed international plc reed l officials of first boston inc harcourt s financial adviser declined comment a wall street arbitrageur who owns harcourt shares said the rumors did not make much sense because harcourt has announced a recapitalization plan to ward off a takeover attempt by british publisher robert maxwell it s completely inconsistent with the recapitalization the only way is if they drop the recapitalization he said calls to harcourt seeking comment were not returned harcourt s recapitalization will come under scrutiny of a u s court in orlando fla monday the company has sought a declaratory judgment on convertibility of debentures due in light of the recapitalization harcourt said in a statement this week that salomon brothers inc sb and mutual shares corp have intervened in the case claiming ownership of more than mln dlrs face amount of the debenture in addition british printing and communications corp headed by maxwell owns mln dlrs face amount harcourt said salomon said in a filing with the securities and exchange commission today that it has of the debentures if the court decides they should be converted at par value of one dlr they could be converted into mln shares harcourt is asking the court to rule the company is not required to issue common to debenture holders who did not convert prior to june eight an increase in reed shares in london today was attributed by brokers to rumors of harcourt s interest and also to rumors that maxwell might be a buyer but an adviser to maxwell in new york said there s no basis to think that it s us reuter 
