SCOTTISH Media Group has received at least four bids for Virgin Radio this week.
Global Radio, the private- equity-backed group which is attempting to buy Britain's largest commercial radio group GCap, is believed to be front-runner in the process.
Chaired by former ITV head Charles Allen, Global Radio bought the radio ass
ets of Chrysalis for £170 million last year and is seeking further assets.
Elsewhere, there are reports that Absolute Radio, which is primarily a radio consultancy, was preparing a bid. UTV, which almost merged with SMG last year, and private-equity group Vitruvian are also thought to have tabled bids.
Glasgow-based SMG bought Virgin for £225m in 2000. It put Virgin Radio up for sale as part of its plan to sell off non-core assets and reduce debts.
Initially it planned to float the company, but that was shelved due to problems in the credit market. Poor offers have also seen the sales deadline pushed back. However,
while it has called for bids this week, the company insisted that it would not be forced into a sale until it was offered "the right price".
SMG completed a major refinancing exercise through a £95m rights issue, completed in December, and now maintains it is not a distress seller.
It now values Virgin at £85m on its books, but analysts have questioned whether it will get this price.
However, Global Radio's initial offer for GCap last month, was at a premium of more than 50 per cent to the company's market price at the time. This suggests the sector believes the assets are much more valuable than the wider market.
The SMG shares rose 0.25p to 15p yesterday.
The full article contains 290 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
