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$19B Buyout of Clear Channel Nearly Dead

Posted Mar 25, 08 7:30 PM CDT in Business 

(Newser) – A $19 billion bid to privatize Clear Channel appears likely to fall through as buyers and financiers bicker—with credit-crunch-induced liquidity woes a major stumbling block, the Wall Street Journal reports. A credit agreement between private equity firms and the banks funding the move has become shaky. “No one wants to do this deal except for the seller,” said a source.

The sale was arranged in 2006, when access to credit, and prospects for the largest US radio broadcaster, were better. Selling to Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital for $39.20 a share seemed fitting, but now Clear Channel’s shares are closer to $32. The company’s “viability” isn’t the issue, says an expert: “It's purely the problems inherent in the debt world today.”

Sources Wall Street Journal, CNN

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Motorists on Interstate 35 pass by a digital billboard, installed by radio and billboard giant Clear Channel, which changes images every eight seconds in this Feb. 12, 2007 file photo.   (AP Photo/Jim Mone, file)
Clear Channel Outdoor controls advertising for landmark structures such as the Millennium Arches in Birmingham.   (AP Photo)
Clear Channel Communications Inc. headquarters is seen in San Antonio, in this Nov. 16, 2006 file photo.   (AP Photo/Eric Gay, file)
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credit market • bank • privatization • financial institutions • Bain Capital • Clear Channel • Thomas H. Lee Partners • sale


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