Bidders Eye Clear Channel Unit

Clear Channel Communications Inc.’s plan to spin off its live entertainment unit has attracted potential buyers, including some rival concert promoters, for part or all of the division, estimated to be worth $1.5 billion to $2 billion, industry sources said Tuesday.

Clear Channel has said it would separate the concert division into an independent, publicly traded company, but many in the industry expect buyers to step in.

Clear Channel Chief Financial Officer Randall Mays, who is the interim chief executive of the entertainment division, said Tuesday that the company had no intentions to sell the unit.

The sources, however, said Dave Lucas, former CEO and president of Clear Channel Music, who has formed his own company, Live 360, had already put together funding for a bid for the unit.

Lucas, who declined to comment, was plotting such a deal before the spinoff had been announced, the people said.

Promoters HOB Entertainment Inc. and Jam Productions Ltd. both said they at least would consider a bid.

“Clear Channel Entertainment is not for sale. We think it has tremendous upside value. If we sold it, we wouldn’t be able to realize the full value of the company and as large shareholders, that’s not something we’re willing to give up,” Mays said.

The Mays family’s personal holdings in Clear Channel Communications is about 7%. They would have the same percentage in the newly independent company after a spinoff.

Mays added it was the company’s fiduciary responsibility to consider all serious offers, but it had not received any formal bids at this time.