| MUMBAI:
The Justice Department of the US has approved the $19.5 billion sale of U.S. radio
operator Clear Channel Communications by two private equity firms. The
Justice Department said it would not oppose the acquisition of San Antonio, Texas-based
Clear Channel by Bain Capital Partners and Thomas H. Lee Partners, as long as
Clear Channel divested radio stations in four U.S. cities.
The
company is required to sell six radio stations in Cincinnati, Houston, Las Vegas
and San Francisco to address anticompetitive concerns. The firms currently own
stakes in other radio stations in those markets, the department said.
Without
the divestitures, advertisers that rely on radio advertising
in those cities likely would have faced higher prices, the
department's antitrust chief Thomas Barnett said in a statement.
| 
