iHeartMedia, Inc and Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc announced that they have reached an agreement on the material terms to fully separate CCOH’s business from iHeartMedia, which currently owns 89.1 percent of CCOH’s outstanding common stock.

The separation is expected to occur in conjunction with, and is subject to, iHeartMedia’s emergence from its ongoing restructuring process.

Effective upon iHeartMedia’s emergence, William Eccleshare will become CEO of CCOH. Eccleshare, currently serves as Chairman/CEO of Clear Channel International (CCI) and joined CCI in 2009. He went on to lead Clear Channel Outdoor, including full operational responsibility for CCI and Clear Channel Outdoor Americas (CCOA), before assuming his current role, in which he is responsible for overseeing CCI’s business operations in 22 countries across Asia, Europe and Latin America. He will be based in London and will also continue to lead CCI as part of his new role.

Scott Wells will continue to lead CCOA as CEO and will report to Eccleshare.

Until the company exits the restructuring process, Bob Pittman and Rich Bressler will continue their current leadership roles for CCOH, with Pittman as CEO and Bressler as President/CFO.

Eccleshare will also be a member of the new Board of Directors of CCOH, which will be announced prior to the separation.

“Today’s announcement is recognition that while iHeartMedia and CCOH are both very strong in their respective areas – iHeartMedia is America’s number one audio company and CCOH is one of the world’s largest outdoor advertising companies – their key constituencies have little strategic overlap. We believe that the separation of the two businesses makes strategic and financial sense, and will allow each company to better achieve their individual missions,” said Pittman. “Although both businesses are powerful advertising platforms, they each have valuable but different touch points within the advertising community and pursuing separate, highly-targeted strategies will unlock their full potential as freestanding companies.”

“William Eccleshare has a long, successful track record at CCOH, and throughout his career in the advertising industry, and has played an instrumental role in driving growth across CCOH’s business, especially in digital,” added Pittman. “Scott Wells will continue his successful leadership of CCOA, fostering deep relationships with advertising partners and growing the company’s offerings in exciting areas such as programmatic. With these strong leaders and CCOH’s creative, innovative and dedicated team, the future standalone company will be very well positioned for future growth and success.”

CCOH’s current leadership and Board of Directors will remain in place until iHeartMedia exits its restructuring process, at which time the new executives and Board will assume their responsibilities.