Deadline Extended For Global Radio GCap Bid

The Takeover Panel has given Global Radio another five days to indicate if it will go ahead with a £371 million bid for rival company GCap Media.

The regulator has now given Global until 5pm on Monday, March 31, to decide whether it will proceed with a takeover or walk away from a deal for the next six months.

The announcement, made at 3pm today, came just two hours ahead of the original deadline for the completion of talks between the two companies.

Global originally made an offer of 190p a share for GCap in December, increasing that to 202p in February.

The Takeover Panel, which had given an initial deadline of March 5, then extended this by three weeks to today following GCap’s agreement to enter talks about a third conditional offer of 222p a share, valuing GCap at £371 million.

In February, GCap chief executive Fru Hazlitt unveiled a “radical but realistic” set of measures to boost profits and maintain long term growth for the company, moving the focus away from digital radio and onto GCap’s main brands (see DAB Dealt A Blow As Gcap Unveils Radical Measures).

GCap Media: 0207 663 7000 www.gcapmedia.com