NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--A Delaware court has scheduled a trial for April 7 todetermine whether Wachovia Corp. (WB) should be forced to fund Providence EquityPartners Inc.'s planned $1.1 billion purchase of television stations from ClearChannel Communications Inc. (CCU), according to people familiar with the matter.
Providence sued Wachovia last week in Delaware after Wachovia asked a NorthCarolina court to free it from its financing obligation. Providence has askedthe North Carolina court to stay that case for which a date has yet to be set.
(This story and related background material will be available on The WallStreet Journal Web site, WSJ.com.)
An earlier report incorrectly said that the cases had been consolidated.
The judge in the Delaware lawsuit, Vice Chancellor Leo Strine, stayed aseparate case brought earlier by Clear Channel against a Providence affiliate inwhich it asked the court to force the private-equity firm to close the deal.
Wachovia originally agreed to finance about $500 million of the purchaseprice. The terms of the transaction were recently altered, however, and Wachovia has argued that it should be allowed to walk away. The two other banks involvedin the financing - Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and UBS AG (UBS) - have agreedto go forward.
- By Matthew Karnitschnig, The Wall Street Journal; 212-416-3464
Corrected March 4, 2008 16:32 ET ( 21:32 GMT)
(A lawsuit filed by Wachovia in North Carolina in connection with thefinancing of Providence Equity Partners' Clear Channel deal has not beenconsolidated with a Providence countersuit in Delaware. A corrected version of areport at 1:44 p.m. EST follows.)
By Matthew Karnitschnig
Of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--A Delaware court has scheduled a trial for April 7 todetermine whether Wachovia Corp. (WB) should be forced to fund Providence EquityPartners Inc.'s planned $1.1 billion purchase of television stations from ClearChannel Communications Inc. (CCU), according to people familiar with the matter.
Providence sued Wachovia last week in Delaware after Wachovia asked a NorthCarolina court to free it from its financing obligation. Providence has askedthe North Carolina court to stay that case for which a date has yet to be set.
(This story and related background material will be available on The WallStreet Journal Web site, WSJ.com.)
An earlier report incorrectly said that the cases had been consolidated.
The judge in the Delaware lawsuit, Vice Chancellor Leo Strine, stayed aseparate case brought earlier by Clear Channel against a Providence affiliate inwhich it asked the court to force the private-equity firm to close the deal.
Wachovia originally agreed to finance about $500 million of the purchaseprice. The terms of the transaction were recently altered, however, and Wachovia has argued that it should be allowed to walk away. The two other banks involvedin the financing - Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and UBS AG (UBS) - have agreedto go forward.
- By Matthew Karnitschnig, The Wall Street Journal; 212-416-3464
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 03-04-08 1319ET Copyright (c) 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
