BRITAIN'S LARGEST commercial radio group, GCap Media, looks set to pass into the hands of a consortium backed by a number of wealthy Irish businessman, including JP McManus, John Magnier, Dermot Desmond and Denis Brosnan.
GCap's board yesterday revealed it had accepted a £375 million offer from Irish-backed Global Radio yesterday, ending a three-month courtship between the two parties.
The deal values each share at 225 pence, an 86 per cent premium to its value on January 4th, the day before Global's announcement that it had approached GCap's board.
GCap's stations include Capital Radio and Classic FM. It has about 17 million listeners a week. Its heartland is London and the south of England but the company has struggled in recent times due to a tougher advertising environment. It has revenues of about £200 million annually and employs about 1,400 staff.
Global, which is backed by the Irish businessmen along with racehorse owner Michael Tabor and his son Ashley, already owns Chrysalis Radio in the UK, which it bought for £170 million last August.
Chrysalis's stations include Heart, Galaxy and LBC, and it is the third-biggest commercial radio player in the UK.
Global is incorporated in Jersey and led by former ITV chief executive Charles Allen.
Mr Allen welcomed the news that GCap's board had recommended its offer. "We believe that this is a very strong business with brands and assets that are highly complementary to those of Global Radio," he said. "We are excited by the opportunity to build on GCap's position as the leading commercial radio player."
Global Radio said the acquisition of GCap would allow it to create a "stronger competitor" to the BBC, which "dominates the UK radio landscape" in terms of listenership.
The deal will require the consent of GCap shareholders at an extraordinary general meeting. GCap's board, which owns 2.48 per cent of the company's shares, has undertaken to vote in favour of the deal.
Global had made two previous bids for GCap this year. It offered £1.90 a share for GCap in early January, before following it up with a £2.02 a share bid.
