Lew Dickey has sealed the deal. The $2.3 billion closing was Friday morning (9/16) and Citadel Broadcasting is no more. The company’s stations and radio network business are now part of Cumulus Media.
Now that the final tally of Citadel shares/warrants outstanding and the election made by each holder is known, Cumulus has announced the final cash/stock compensation. Former Citadel owners who elected to receive the maximum cash (or did not make an election) will receive $30.40 in cash and 1.521 shares of Cumulus stock (or warrants). Based on Thursday’s closing price of $2.45 for Cumulus, that’s total consideration of $34.13 – slightly better than the $33.95 projected by RBR-TVBR but well below the $37.00 value when the deal was announced in February.
Strangely, Cumulus indicated that a few Citadel stock/warrant holders elected to receive all stock and no cash. They’ll receive 8.525 shares of Cumulus shares (or warrants). That value works out to only $20.89 each.
“With the completion of the Citadel acquisition, Cumulus Media is the largest pure-play radio broadcaster in the United States, and owns or operates more than 570 radio stations in 120 markets and a nationwide radio network serving over 4000 stations,” the company proudly declared in its closing announcement. It remains smaller than Clear Channel Communications, of course, but that radio giant is mostly privately held and has only a small float of shares for its parent company, CC Media Holdings, with shares trading on the pink sheets.
