The business stories that matter, by Fortune's Colin Barr
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March 27, 2008, 7:21 am

Clear Channel wins a round

Clear Channel (CCU) won a round in court with its reluctant bankers. The San Antonio-based radio station operator said early Thursday that a Texas judge granted a temporary restraining order preventing Clear Channel’s bankers from backing away from its $19 billion buyout by Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners.

The banks, led by Citi (C) and Morgan Stanley (MS), have tried to change the terms of their financing but have been rebuffed by the buyers, The New York Times reported. The bank group agreed at the end of 2006 to fund the deal, but the industry has since fallen on hard times and major players are eager to conserve their capital amid a credit crunch. Complicating matters, the Times reports that the private-equity buyers were tipped off to the banks’ plans to renege on their financing agreements in a misfired e-mail last July. Now, Clear Channel says, “We are pleased that the Banks and the Purchasers will now be able to move quickly to complete the loan documents and fund the Merger.” That’s certainly looking at the bright side.

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Colin Barr covers business and finance for Fortune.com. Previously he was an editor at TheStreet.com and author of the weekly Five Dumbest Things on Wall Street column, and an editor at Dow Jones Newswires.
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