Shares of Clear Channel Communications Inc. surged as much as 18 percent on media reports of settlement talks with six banks on a proposal to finance the radio and media company's buyout by Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital.

Citigroup Inc. and five other banks may fund the buyout for $36 a share as part of a settlement of lawsuits pending in New York and Texas state courts, the Wall Street Journal reported, without citing sources for its information. The price is below the $39.20 price buyout firms agreed to pay last year and more than an intraday high of $35.30 in New York Stock Exchange trading.

Clear Channel and the buyout firms have accused six banks of failing to honor their commitments to finance the acquisition, which was first announced in November 2006. In March, the company and the equity firms filed lawsuits in Texas and New York to force the banks to fund the agreement.

Clear Channel, which owns eight Cincinnati radio stations, and the buyout firms have accused six banks of failing to honor their commitments to finance the acquisition, which was first announced in November 2006. Clear Channel and the equity firms filed lawsuits earlier in March in Texas and New York to force the banks to fund the agreement.

Clear Channel shares jumped $3.23, or 10.8 percent, to $33.23 in afternoon trading. The stock had fallen from a 52-week high of $38.58 last June to a low of $25.90 in March as investors' hopes dimmed about the chances of a deal.

New York Investment Citigroup Lawsuit