Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst Inc. says it will buy SFX Broadcasting Inc. for $2.1 billion in cash and assumed debt to become the nation’s third-largest radio broadcaster.
SFX’s 71 stations will give Dallas-based Hicks Muse’s Capstar Broadcasting Corp. 314 stations in 79 markets.
The purchase is the biggest by the buyout firm, which has been snapping up stations since ownership limits were eased last year.
“With Capstar you get beautiful market size diversity,” said Bishop Cheen, an analyst at First Union Capital Markets.
New York-based SFX is the nation’s eighth-largest broadcaster with stations in markets such as Tucson, Ariz., Jacksonville, Fla., and Nashville; Capstar ranks seventh.
A combined Capstar and SFX would be in revenue behind only Westinghouse Electric Corp. and Chancellor Media Corp., which will be formed when Evergreen Media Corp. buys Hicks Muse’s Chancellor Broadcasting Co.
SFX shares rose $6.25, to $74.12 on the Nasdaq stock market.
