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The nation’s largest network of radio stations, Clear Channel Communications, agreed Thursday morning to be bought for $18.7 billion.

A consortium that includes Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital won the bidding with a $37.60-a-share offer, beating out a rival consortium of Providence Equity Partners, the Blackstone Group and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Company.

Clear Channel announced the agreement in a press release early Thursday, putting a total value of $26.7 billion on the transaction, including assumed debt. The company’s board has unanimously approved the proposed transaction and is recommending that shareholders vote in favor of it, Clear Channel said.

Clear Channel said in a separate statement Thursday that it will sell all of its radio stations outside its top-100 markets, totaling 448 of 1,150 stations, as well as its 42-station television group. Overall, the properties generated less than 10 percent of Clear Channel’s revenue last year, and all the properties are located in small- to mid-sized markets across the nation, the company said.

In addition to its radio stations, which include Z100 in New York and KIIS-FM in Los Angeles, Clear Channel owns a substantial number of billboards and other outdoor advertising. The company generated $6.6 billion in sales in 2005.

Clear Channel’s broad reach could raise regulatory concerns, however. Thomas H. Lee Partners is part of the buyout consortium that owns Univision Communications, the nation’s largest Spanish-language broadcaster, so the Clear Channel deal may be the first in which regulators will have to consider private equity owners as established players in some media markets.
nytimes

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