Clear Channel: Everything unclear

Media On May 8, it will be decided whether Clear Channel will be sold and thus probably split up completely. May 8, 2007 could accelerate upheavals in the out-of-home advertising market - worldwide and in Switzerland. The shareholders of the Texan media group Clear Channel Communications (CCC) are expected to decide whether they want to sell their shares to the two investment firms Bain Capital Partners, LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P.. The outcome is uncertain. The meeting has already had to be postponed twice at short notice, partly because the shareholders are demanding one billion US dollars more instead of the 26.7 billion US dollars negotiated by the Board of Directors.Regardless of the outcome of the shareholders' meeting, industry experts assume that CCC, which has radio, TV and outdoor advertising in its portfolio, will be completely split up sooner or later. This process is already in full swing, as the Group recently announced that it would divest its holdings in 448 radio stations and 56 TV stations. This also appears to be in the interests of the two holding companies.
So far, only outdoor advertising subsidiary Clear Channel Outdoor (CCO) has been spared the dismemberment. CCO is the world's largest player in the poster sector, with a presence in 30 other countries in addition to the USA - including Switzerland with CCO Plakanda (market share Switzerland: around 25 percent). The industry is also expecting a split, with CCO national companies with small market shares being sold. A sale of CCC to the associated companies would tend to accelerate this process. Players such as the French poster provider JCDecaux, the German Ströer and the Swiss market leader Affichage are already on the lookout for acquisition opportunities here and there. PubliGroupe, with its cross-media strategy, also appears to be interested in re-integrating the poster medium into its portfolio.   
Markus Knöpfli