Clear Channel Suitors, Banks Reach a Deal

CLEAR CHANNEL SUITORS, BANKS REACH A DEAL
Clear Channel's suitors and the banks financing the privatization of the radio and outdoor-advertising company reached an agreement late Tuesday, allowing the troubled deal to go forward 18 months after it was originally struck. The new price will be $36 per share, or roughly $18 billion, instead of the $39.20 per share, or $19.4 billion, approved by shareholders this past September. Bain Capital Partners and Thomas H. Lee Partners agreed to pay a slightly higher interest rate on the bank-debt portion of the financing. And the banks -- Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, Royal Bank of Scotland and Wachovia -- still could suffer some losses on the loans they had agreed to underwrite. Shareholders still have the option to roll their shares into an up to 30% stake in a privately held Clear Channel.
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