Election day is today for CCU

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Don’t look for a cliff hanger. This one is in the bag, with one-time dissident Highfields Capital pledged to support the buyout and most other big shareholders also believed to be firmly in the "yes" column. The big question is how many current public shareholders will take advantage of the opportunity to remain a shareholder in the new, private Clear Channel Communications as they vote to approve the deal to take the company private, with Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital as the primary shareholders. Highfields had pressed hard for that option, so it is expected to emerge as the biggest outside investor once the deal closes. With regulatory approvals still needed, but no known impediment to receiving them, that could be in the Thanksgiving-New Years time frame.


Even after the buyout Clear Channel won’t disappear from the Wall Street radar. It will have to make regular SEC reports for its stock trading in the over the counter market and its outstanding bonds. If you are a shareholder who elects the private stock option, the shares will be trading with the new ticker "CCMOV" on the pink sheets.

RBR/TVBR observation: Losing the biggest radio stock of all leaves quite a hole in our daily Radio Index, which has been tracking radio stock movements for over a decade. Should we include CCMOV, even though it will not be listed on an exchange? We’ll have to see how much trading volume there is before making that call.