John Malone probably won’t lose much sleep over his $530 million loan to Sirius XM Radio. His media empire, Liberty Media, has a market cap of $12.4 billion, so Malone’s 40 percent stake in Sirius XM may be something of a punt. And in the satellite broadcasting industry, Malone certainly has a good leg.

Sirius XM has a big debt pile — $3.25 billion, with $171.6 million due today — but it also has a sexy subscriber base of 20 million users, which rivals the top cable operations in the country. Malone and rival Charles Ergan would have been looking at that number as a palliative for the exorbitant talent contracts Sirius boss Mel Karmazin has (Thanks, KB)  doled out to Howard Stern, Oprah Winfrey and Martha Stewart.

Liberty shareholders might have wanted Malone to wait for the bankruptcy to hit and bid for the satellites and other pieces. But Ergan, owner of EchoStar and Dish Network and holder of the Sirius XM debt coming due today, would have the pole position in an asset sale.

The satellite radio model banks heavily on a healthy U.S. auto market. U.S. automakers are in Washington today, where they may find a more sympathetic ear with a Democrat in the White House. Keeping satellite radio afloat is probably not among the points that GM and Chrysler will present in their case for more tax-funded support, but perhaps Malone is betting the bailout will ignite a recovery in satellite radio’s fortunes.

Deals News:

* The board of Italian power company Enel SpA meets today to approve buying Acciona’s 25 percent stake in Spain’s Endesa, a source close to the matter said. Other sources have put the value of the deal at about 11 billion euros. The purchase would lift Enel’s stake in Endesa to 92 percent.

* Vale, Xstrata and Rio Tinto are among the companies that have submitted proposals to develop Mongolia’s prized $2 billion Tavan Tolgoi coal mine, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter.

* Shares in Oz Minerals, the world’s second-largest zinc miner, jumped 29 percent after it agreed to a $1.7 billion takeover bid from Chinese state-owned trading group Minmetals.

* Britain’s BG Group raised its bid for Australian coal seam gas firm Pure Energy by 25 percent to nearly $650 million, trumping a rival offer by Royal Dutch Shell’s Australian partner Arrow Energy.

* The world’s fifth-biggest cement group Italcementi will bid for full control of its Paris-listed unit Ciments Francais in an all-paper deal, the companies said.

* U.S. fund Steel Partners said it had withdrawn its proposal to acquire 33.3 percent of Japanese brewer Sapporo Holdings, citing the firm’s performance and refusal to negotiate with it. Steel Partners, which has an 18.6 percent stake in Sapporo, had offered to buy the firm’s shares at 875 yen per share.

* Sanofi-Aventis has no comment on newspaper reports it is in takeover talks with Brazilian generic drugmaker Medley, the world’s third largest drugmaker said. French newspapers Les Echos and La Tribune, citing a report in Brazilian newspaper Valor Economico, said that Sanofi was interested in buying Brazil’s biggest generics drugmaker, which is valued at $220 million.

(PHOTO:Liberty Media Corporation Chairman John Malone returns to the Chancery court in Wilmington, Delaware, after a lunch break March 10, 2008. REUTERS/John Randolph)

Drumroll, please: Almost two years after radio station and billboard company Clear Channel Communications began exploring strategic options, its $17.9 billion takeover finally closed on Wednesday.

The deal, slowed by legal battles in two states and negotiations to lower the purchase price, became a symbol of the buyout industry’s glory days and the subsequent struggles of the credit crunch.

Clear Channel had agreed to be acquired by private equity firms Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital Partners last year. The market quickly changed and credit to fund the acquisition became more costly and difficult to secure.

The buyout firms had agreed to buy Clear Channel for $39.20 per share, but were forced to file lawsuits in New York and Texas to ensure that a syndicate of six banks would still fund the deal. In May, the bank syndicate, the private equity buyers and Clear Channel struck a deal to lower the price to $36 per share.

And now Clear Channel’s stock will cease trading at the end of the day. Phew!

Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio also closed their merger this week after struggling for 526 days, or 17 months, to gain regulatory approval. The new Sirius XM Radio, with more than 18.5 million subscribers, is now the second-largest radio broadcaster after Clear Channel.

The next marathon wait? Shareholders of BCE Inc, the Canadian telecommunications company, must wait until Dec. 11 for the long-awaited $34.1 billion deal to close. Of course, that’s more than five months from now — who knows what could happen?

Oprah, meet Howard. Reports in the Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal say the head of the FCC will support the merger of XM, home to Ms. Winfrey, and Sirius,  where Mr. Stern holds court, removing the last regulatory hurdle to the long-awaited merger of the country’s only two satellite radio operators. Aides to the FCC chief said he decided to give his support after the companies agreed last week to concessions intended to prevent the new company from raising prices or stifling competition among radio makers, the Post reported.  As of last week there was still some static coming from members of Congress, but with the FCC backing the deal it’s unclear how they will make themselves heard.

In his first public comment on the end of the Yahoo/Microsoft merger talks, billionare financier Carl Icahn, said on Sunday the subsequent deal Yahoo forged with Google “might have some merit.” He had previously said a Google deal should be considered a secondary alternative to the Microsoft offer. “While the Google deal is not the same as an offer of $34.375 per share for Yahoo, I am continuing to study it,” Icahn told Reuters. Icahn declined to comment on whether he would continue to press his proxy battle to replace the board of Yahoo.

Belgian brewer InBev warned U.S. rival Anheuser-Busch that it should fully explore its $46 billion takeover offer before doing a deal with Mexico’s Modelo. In a letter that appeared to be aimed at Anheuser-Busch shareholders, InBev suggested that doing a deal with Modelo could impact the value of its $65-a-share takeover offer. Inbev’s Chief Executive Carlos Brito wrote to Anheuser-Busch’s CEO August Busch IV that he was committed to a “friendly combination,” and “we would expect that prior to proceeding with any alternative transaction, especially if your shareholders will not be given the opportunity to vote on it, you would first fully explore our offer and the potential adverse consequences any such transaction could have on the ability of your shareholders to receive our premium offer.”

Other deals of the day:

* French market watchdog AMF has approved the merger document of Gaz de France and Suez, removing one of the last hurdles to the utilities’ long-delayed 100 billion euro ($153.3 billion) merger.

* Shareholders in Australian miner Zinifex approved a A$4.3 billion ($4.0 billion) takeover by fellow miner Oxiana, creating Australia’s third-largest diversified mining group. The new company said it would look at any assets BHP Billiton may need to sell to satisfy anti-trust regulators in its bid to acquire Rio Tinto

* Rio Tinto dismissed concerns that it could be barred from digging a huge iron ore mine in Africa, as it builds its defense against a $180 billion bid from bigger rival BHP Billiton.

* De La Rue, the world’s largest banknote printing company, has agreed to sell its Cash Systems business to private equity firm Carlyle Group for 360 million pounds ($700 million) in cash.

* Australian oil firm Roc Oil offered to buy Anzon Australia in a deal valuing Anzon at about A$612 million ($572 million), after agreeing to acquire UK-listed Anzon Energy.

* Swiss machine maker Schweiter Technologies said it is selling its Satisloh Holding unit to French eyeglass maker Essilor International for 340 million euros ($521.3 million) in cash, boosting its shares.

* ProSiebenSat.1 has agreed to sell its Scandinavian pay-TV group to Sweden’s TV4 in a deal with an enterprise value of 320 million euros ($492 million) that will help it cut debt, lifting its shares.

* Vodka label Stolichnaya is to be put up for sale after Russian company SPI asked Lehman Brothers to find a buyer, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.

* Credit Suisse said that it has won approval from regulators to set up a securities joint venture in China, which will allow it to underwrite domestic stock and bond offerings in the country.

* Enmax Corp said that it extended the deadline for the takeover of junior natural gas producer Cordero Energy as the two sides agreed to sweeten the deal with a special dividend.

* Cogeco Cable plans to acquire all the shares of city-owned Toronto Hydro Telecom for C$200 million ($194 million), the cable company said.

* Chip equipment maker Applied Materials said it remained interested in buying some businesses of Dutch rival ASM International and wants to enter discussions on possible transactions.

* ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steelmaker, bought a 11.31 percent stake in the Turkish steel company Erdemir, bringing its total ownership to 24.9 percent and sending Erdemir shares sharply higher.

* Swedish engineering group Sandvik agreed to buy a 49 percent of U.S. tool maker Precorp for an undisclosed sum.

* Gemini Communication said it has acquired 51 percent stake in Chennai’s Veeras Infotek in a deal valued at 70 million rupees.

* Shares in Banco Popular fell more than 3 percent after Mexican telecoms company Axtel denied reports that it or its chief executive could buy a stake in the Spanish bank.

* French catering and services company Sodexo said it had bought a 90 percent stake worth 23 million euros ($35.3 million) in Yachts de Paris, which operates cruises on the river Seine in Paris.

* The Philippines rebuffed an offer to sell its 40 percent stake in oil refiner Petron Corp to investment fund Ashmore Group for around $550 million, saying it wanted a higher price.