The Clear Channel saga continues, and it may end in court. At issue: Bank financing for the nearly $20 billion deal. The two buyout firms--Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners--seem willing to go to court (and the media) to force banks to honor their commitments, according to the New York Times. You can't really blame the banks, which include Citigroup, Wachovia and Morgan Stanley. They are balking because they are still choking on leveraged loan debt and can't handle much more. If they find an out, they would be liable for a $660 million breakup fee, according to the Times. That's far better than taking a roughly $3 billion loss on the loans, especially at a time, when they face additional leveraged loan write downs in coming quarters.

For more:
- here's the Times article [1]

Related Articles:
Wachovia to bust Clear Channel deal. Article [2]
Hedge funds prevail, Clear Channel bids to go higher. Article [3]
Clear Channel morphs into a test of wills. Article [4]