The Guardian Media Group's chief executive has confirmed that they are looking into buying parts of the Emap group. That could lead to GMG Radio acquiring some of the radio stations Emap is known to be seeking to offload as part of a break up of the company. Emap say they've had a number of unsolicited approaches following the departure of their chief exec.
GMG Radio currently operates the Century, Smooth, Real and Rock Radio brands across the UK – Emap's radio portfolio includes Magic, Kiss, Kerrang and Big City Network stations including Radio Forth, Key 103, Hallam FM and Metro Radio.
"They have a lot of interesting assets," GMG's chief executive Carolyn McCall said, adding that GMG would actively pursue acquisition opportunities and was keeping an "open mind" about which UK opportunities to target.
"We would not buy the whole of Emap," she added. "But there are parts we will certainly be looking at."
It is thought Emap's magazine assets – which include Heat, FHM, Grazia and Closer – would be of interest to GMG. A radio brand like Kiss, however, would add areas such as East Anglia and Bristol to GMG Radio's growing list of regions covered – and complement its current networks with an alternative music genre.
GMG's sale of half of Trader Media Group earlier this year provided them with £675m to spend. Ms McCall told her group's own paper, The Guardian: "We will actively pursue acquisition opportunities in the year ahead as we continue to reshape our business, We want to diversify our portfolio so in terms of potential acquisitions we will define media quite broadly. We won't be looking solely at areas we're already involved in."
Emap recently announced the sale of its Irish radio stations – Today FM, FM104 and Highland Radio – to Communicorp Group.
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