The London Financial Times reports there is trouble in Clear Channel land (not really news – just new details). Their story is [here]
The key idea in the story is some of the lenders in the ~$20 billion loans to Clear Channel *want* Clear Channel to go into default, to force the company to be restructured.
There is another story that could be very much related to this (although it’s only a connection, not any kind of proof). GAP Broadcasting runs about 114 former Clear Channel stations (all in tiny tiny markets). GAP is funded solely by Private Equity Firm OakTree Capital. The GAP announcement today is they have formed a third division – GAP East – that will manage GAP’s future station acquisitions East of the Mississippi River.
What I learned today is that OakTree IS one of the Private Equity firms with a stake in Clear Channel. The FT Times story says that OakTree is one of the lenders pushing for the parent company to default and go into bankruptcy. My guess is OakTree is looking for a deal that would exchange their Clear Channel debt for a group of stations that could then be spun off and absorbed into GAP.
Whatever is going on, you can be sure there is a lot of big dollar people in the room, and Tim Geithner is getting regular updates – and it probably won’t be long until something happens, since the GM problem has now been solved.
Sunday – June 7th…. NY Times has an update
and the Financial Times