Last Friday, the Office of Fair Trading announced that Global Radio must divest five radio stations in the Midlands, plus related Gold stations, to gain approval for the deal. The OFT also ruled that Global Radio could continue handling ad sales for GMG Radio, and that there were no competition issues arising from GCap/Global's London assets.
The stations that Global and GCap must dispose of are: GCap's BRMB, Beacon, Mercia and Wyvern in the West Midlands, and Global's Heart 106 in the East Midlands.
UTV and some smaller radio companies, such as Midlands-focused newspaper and radio outfit CN Group, have been linked to the purchase of the three other stations - Beacon, Mercia and Wyvern.
According to a senior radio figure close to Bauer Media, its purchase of BRMB was practically a "done deal". He said: "I understand it's a near done deal. Bauer has wanted BRMB for a long time to complete the [North of England-focused] Big City Network set."
Paul Robinson, managing director of KidsCo and former chief executive of TalkRadio, said: "Bauer always wanted something in the West Midlands. It has the right recipe for managing city-size stations."
A Bauer Media spokesperson said: "Bauer Media is a business with more than 80 brands across multiple platforms. We have discussions around our business on an ongoing basis, but we don't comment on any individual discussions."
A source close to GMG Radio said: "Clearly it makes sense for GMG to be looking at buying Heart 106 and rebranding it to Century, which is what it used to be. The transformation would be relatively easy."
GMG Radio declined to comment.
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