A Texas judge has sided with equity types Thomas H Lee Partners and Bain Capital in their bid to take over US radio giant Clear Channel.
As previously reported, the two institution's long drawn out attempts to take over Clear Channel may be thwarted at the last minute because the banks who originally agreed to back the deal are getting cold feet because of the change in the economic climate between the start and conclusion of the takeover negotiations.
The two equity companies are suing the banks, claiming that they can't pull out of the deal at this late stage and that the contract provisions which technically speaking enable the pull out should never have been included. The lawsuit, which was backed by Clear Channel in Texas, is attempting to force the banks to honour their original commitments to the deal.
The Texas court has issued a temporary order telling the banks they can't "interfere with or thwart" Thomas H Lee and Bain's Clear Channel deal by now refusing to fund it. Clear Channel welcomed the ruling, though it isn't really the end of it because it is a temporary order that is really pending the hearing of the equity groups' other lawsuit on the matter, which is being pursued through the New York courts. All of which means this story still has some way to run.