ITV shareholders have ruled out the possibility of involvement in breaking up Scottish Media Group (SMG), damaging Lord Alli’s proposed takeover bid of Virgin Radio for private equity company 3i.
Lord Alli had hoped to win support from ITV shareholders in his bid for Virgin, after the Glasgow-based media group had rejected his previous offers for the station (see
SMG Rejects 3i Offer For Virgin).
It was thought that Lord Alli had hoped to interest ITV in taking full ownership of SMG’s broadcasting business, comprising Scottish TV and Grampian TV, once Virgin had been sold.
However, industry sources close to the senior ITV executive team said that the company was not interested in buying Scottish TV and Grampian TV as the management had extracted as much value as it could from its 17% stake. “There’s no strategic need to it,” one executive said, according to a report in the Guardian.
Earlier this week it was announced that private equity group HG Capital also had plans to bid for Virgin Radio (see HG Capital To Bid For Virgin Radio).
Rumours of SMG’s possible disposal of Virgin started last June, when the Group was thought to be sounding out potential buyers for the station. It was believed that SMG hoped to sell Virgin for £130 million.
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