CCC Deal Better Than It Looks

Financial analysts are saying that although the Mays family stands to lose money in the current Clear Channel Communications privatization deal, they’ll still be better off than keeping the company public.

The Mays family – including founder Lowry Mays, company CEO Mark Mays and CFO Randall Mays – reportedly owns 32 million shares in the radio company. At $36 a share instead of the rumored $39.20 a share, that computes to a loss of about $104 million on paper, according to the Wall Street Journal.

However, the Mays are expected to roll over part of that stake into the private company owned by private equity firms Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital through a stub-equity option available to all Clear Channel shareholders.

With $1.1 billion reportedly available to shareholders taking the stub-equity instead of cash, the founding family could get up to $100 million of it, sources close to the matter told the WSJ.

The move is considered a potential plus for the Mays family should the value of the company increase, the paper said.