The former director-general of the BBC, Greg Dyke, has denied recent speculation that he has held talks with Clive Hollick regarding a consortium bid for commercial broadcaster ITV, according to industry sources.
Mr Dyke has had no contact with Lord Hollick and the first he knew of the outgoing United Business Media (UBM) chief executives’ association with private equity group KKR was apparently when he ‘read it in the papers’, reports the
Guardian.
Speculation over a possible take-over bid by Dyke, Lord Hollick and ex-managing director of The Daily Telegraph, Stephen Grabiner, has been rife this week (see Possible Consortium Bid For ITV). Dyke and Grabiner both advise venture capitalist firm Apax and industry sources said that Hollick had already talked with Apax about the possibility of them backing a joint bid with KKR for ITV.
Mr Dyke has long been associated with a possible take-over bid for ITV and speculation re-emerged last autumn when it transpired that he had been made a media adviser to Apax, which itself had investigated a bid for the broadcaster almost two years ago.
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