Radio pair tune in to merger

13 April 2012

RADIO groups Capital and GWR admitted they are in talks over a £700m merger. A combination of the two would dominate the industry, bringing together GWR's Classic FM with Capital's London flagship 95.8 Capital FM.

The two companies own 55 radio stations between them, stretching from Plymouth to Glasgow.

'These discussions are ongoing and may or may not lead to a transaction,' the pair said. They confirmed that any deal would be all share and nil-premium.

The shares of both companies rose last week on hopes that management had hammered out their differences

Capital's chief executive David Mansfield is expected to take the same role at the merged company. GWR boss Ralph Bernard would become chairman.

Daily Mail and This Is Money owner DMGT has a 29.9% stake in GWR. Although Capital-GWR will account for 40% of the radio advertising market, a merger is not expected to spark competition worries.

A deal is possible now because the Communications Act liberalised media ownership rules.

Emap is Britain's other big radio operator. It could be waiting in the wings if Capital and GWR do not consummate talks. Emap owns 29% of Scottish Radio Holdings, which it is tipped to take over.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in