Clear Channel and the two private equity firms that planned to take it private, Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners, plan to sue Citibank and other lenders, The Deal Is reporting.
Shares of Clear Channel dropped softly yesterday after The Wall Street Journal reported on its website that the banks and the buyers had “failed to resolve their differences over final financing terms” and warned the deal was near collapse. The Clear Channel deal would be one of the biggest leveraged buyouts to collapse in the credit crunch.
“Clear Channel plans to file suit in state court in Texas for tortious interference with its buyout agreement. The buyers will sue separately to enforce the debt commitments given by the banks. Those agreements are governed by New York law, while the buyout agreement was struck under Texas law and the parties agreed that any disputes would be litigated there,” The Deal’s Scott Stuart writes.
The lending syndicate includes Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., Credit Suisse Securities LLC, Morgan Stanley, Wachovia Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland plc, according to the deal. All could be sued along with Citi.
Update: It’s on. The Wall Street Journal just reported that the two lawsuits have been filed.
Clear Channel, PE firms poised to sue lenders over buyout [The Deal]
Posted by guest, Mar 26, 2008 5:48PM
As a radio listener, can I sue Rear Channel for screwing up radio? I still believe that Rear Channel screwed radio up so that they could ass rape us all into XMSR (of which they are a larger owner). Follow da dollahs biyatches! Word!
Tyrone F. U. Jones
BSC Pro-Tester/Evaluator of Talent