Private-equity firm Silver Lake has reached out to iHeartMedia Inc. and its largest creditor group with an offer to invest about $500 million in the radio station operator, the Wall Street Journal reported. iHeartMedia’s largest creditor group, led by Franklin Mutual Advisers Inc. and Pacific Investment Management Co., hasn’t accepted Silver Lake’s offer. Silver Lake, known for its investments in technology and media companies, would invest through convertible preferred shares, a hybrid instrument between debt and equity. Convertible preferred shares typically pay interest, and get paid before common equity. They also come with an option to convert to common equity at a specified share price. Silver Lake views iHeartMedia, the biggest radio broadcaster in the U.S., as an attractive growth investment opportunity.
