India’s Bennett, Coleman buys Virgin Radio for $106 mln- papers
June 1st, 2008 | by admin |MUMBAI, June 1 (Reuters) - Indian media company Bennett,Coleman & Co has bought Virgin Radio for 4.5 billion rupees($106 million), local newspapers reported on Sunday, citing astatement from the Indian company.
Bennett, Coleman, publisher of the Times of India paper,bought Virgin Radio Holdings Ltd and its subsidiaries in the UKfrom Scottish media group SMG Plc (SCSMG.L: Quote, Profile, Research) throughwholly-owned unit TIML Golden Square Ltd, the Economic Timessaid.
SMG had put Virgin Radio up for sale as part of its plan tosell off non-core assets.
TIML will manage the station along with Absolute Radio, andinvest 15 million pounds in “developing and re-launching thebrand” over the next few months, the Economic Times said.
The deal is expected to be completed by June-end, the Timesof India said.
Malaysian pay TV operator Astro All Asia Networks(AAAN.KL: Quote, Profile, Research), Global Radio, Absolute Radio and UTV Media (UTV.L: Quote, Profile, Research)had been reported to be bidding for Virgin Radio.
Bennett, Coleman also has a presence in television andoperates FM radio stations in India.
Indian companies have announced overseas deals worth $7.2billion so far in 2008, data from Thomson Reuters showed. ($1=42.5 rupees) (Reporting by Rina Chandran; Editing by Kim Coghill)
