A Delaware Chancery Court judge has set trial for April 7th on whether Wachovia is legally bound to finance about a half billion of the purchase price for Newport Television to buy Clear Channel Television for 1.1 billion. Newport is backed by Providence Equity Partners. A competing lawsuit by Wachovia against Newport is pending in North Carolina and Newport has asked for a stay in that case.
Clear Channel had agreed to reduce the transaction price to 1.1 billion from 1.2 billion after Newport had balked at closing. That appeared to moot a lawsuit that Clear Channel had filed against Newport trying to force it to the closing table. That lawsuit, also in Delaware, is still pending, but has been put on hold. However, it’s not clear whether Newport will be able to close the deal without Wachovia, although two other lenders have remained in the deal with smaller commitments.
