Clear Channel Sets Vote on Buyout
By Sanford Nowlin, San Antonio Express-News
Jan. 30–Clear Channel Communications Inc., the nation’s largest radio broadcaster, has set the shareholder vote on its proposed $18.7 billion buyout by Thomas H. Lee Partners LP and Bain Capital Partners LLC for March 21.
Two-thirds of Clear Channel’s shareholders must approve the $37.60-a-share cash bid for the San Antonio-based company to go private. A shareholder abstention would have the same effect as a vote against the merger, the company said in a regulatory filing.
The deal could face a hard sell now that at least one major shareholder appears to have balked at the deal.
The Wall Street Journal has reported that large shareholders, including Fidelity Management & Research Co., are concerned about the sale, saying investors would be better served by holding their investment for the long haul.
Fidelity, the world’s biggest mutual fund manager, owns about 11 percent of Clear Channel’s shares.
Clear Channel officials said the company pursued the buyout, announced in November, to boost shareholder value.
Before announcing the buyout, Clear Channel battled sluggish stock prices as investors fretted that the iPod, satellite radio and other technologies had numbered the days of traditional radio. The company also restructured in 2005 to win Wall Street favor, spinning off its entertainment division, Live Nation Inc., and 10 percent of its outdoor advertising business.
The latest transaction — one of the biggest leveraged buyout deals ever — would keep San Antonio’s Mays family at Clear Channel’s helm, and the company’s headquarters would remain in the city.
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