UTV to announce FM104 purchase from O'Brien

Acquisition:UTV is expected today to announce its acquisition of Dublin radio station FM104 from Denis O'Brien's Communicorp group.

The Belfast-based broadcaster is believed to have agreed to pay about €52 million for the station and will now seek approval from both the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland and the Competition Authority.

This will give UTV its sixth radio licence in the Republic. It already owns Q102 in Dublin, two licences in Cork, LMFM in Louth and Live 95 in Limerick. UTV has tried to buy FM104 on two previous occasions and now looks set to finally take control of the station, which is led by Tim Fenn.

FM104 is projected to achieve earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of €4.6 million from revenues of €10.6 million in the year to the end of March.

Established in 1989 as Capital Radio, it was rebranded in May 1992 as FM104 and is now the biggest commercial radio station in Dublin.

This deal means Mr O'Brien will have paid €148 million to acquire Today FM and Highland Radio. In July, Mr O'Brien agreed to pay €200 million to UK media group Emap to buy the three Irish stations.

Regulators, however, stipulated that he could not buy FM104 because it would give him too much control of the radio advertising market in Dublin. He already controls 98FM and Spin 103.

UTV was one of five groups that bid for FM104. A joint bid by Vienna Investments, a consortium led by former FM104 chief executive Dermot Hanrahan, and Liberty Global, owner of the NTL and Chorus cable television operators, was withdrawn last week, leaving UTV as the only group left in the sale process.

The BCI yesterday gave its approval for FM104 to be sold to Communicorp by Emap subject to the stipulation that Mr O'Brien's company would sell the Dublin station.