Wireless Group Preparing Buyout Auction

The Wireless Group could soon be sold to the highest bidder, if reports this morning are to be believed, with investment bank Goldman Sachs reported to be preparing an auction of the company despite a failed management buyout last week.

According to The Times, Goldman Sachs is advising the broadcaster following the distribution of a “sale memorandum” last week. However, TWG has not ruled out revisiting chairman and chief executive Kelvin MacKenzie’s management buyout, which collapsed after Veronis Suhler Stevenson withdrew its backing last week, provided another investor can be found (see Wireless Group Halts Takeover Talks With MacKenzie).

Interest in TWG is expected to be high, with a spate of consolidation currently gripping the radio industry. The company’s largest stakeholder, News Corporation, has indicated that it is open to offers for the £75 million business, according to The Times.

Amongst the other radio companies currently being circled for acquisition is Scottish Radio Holdings, which last week saw chief executive David Goode, pledge to fend off takeover deals with acquisitions of his own, designed to boost the broadcaster’s value and make it a less viable takeover target (see SRH To Avoid Takeover Through Acquisitions).

SMG is also the subject of attention from its larger rivals, with Chrysalis believed to be considering a bid, while venture capitalists 3i and Lord Alli are understood to have offered £100 million for its acquisition.

Meanwhile, radio giants Capital and GWR are slated to merge in May, following news that the Office of Fair Trading would not be referring the two companies’ consolidation to the Competition Commission, instead accepting undertakings by the two broadcasters to address competition concerns (see Capital Set To Merge With GWR In May). The mammoth consolidation will create the UK’s largest radio company, worth around £711 million.

Wireless Group: 020 7269 7180

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