MUMBAI: The Justice Department of the US has approved the $19.5 billion sale of U.S. radio operator Clear Channel Communications by two private equity firms.

The Justice Department said it would not oppose the acquisition of San Antonio, Texas-based Clear Channel by Bain Capital Partners and Thomas H. Lee Partners, as long as Clear Channel divested radio stations in four U.S. cities.

The company is required to sell six radio stations in Cincinnati, Houston, Las Vegas and San Francisco to address anticompetitive concerns. The firms currently own stakes in other radio stations in those markets, the department said.

Without the divestitures, advertisers that rely on radio advertising in those cities likely would have faced higher prices, the department's antitrust chief Thomas Barnett said in a statement.