Scottish Media springs £225m cash takeover bid for Ginger Media group

Scottish Media Group has made a cash bid of £225 million sterling for Ginger Media, the British entertainment company headed by redhead radio and TV personality Chris Evans, industry sources said yesterday.

Glasgow-based SMG is fighting off several competing bids for Ginger - which owns the Virgin Radio commercial station and produces the Channel 4 television programme TFI Friday - but none is yet believed to have topped SMG's offer, sources said.

"SMG is currently in discussions with Ginger which may or may not lead to a successful bid. A number of other bidders have also put offers in," said one industry source.

He said US media firm Clear Channel Communications Inc had made an offer of £175 million for Ginger. Media reports said NRJ, the French radio group, had also put in a written bid topping £200 million.

"We will probably have to wait a while for the whole thing to shake out. It sounds as if Ginger are leaking some of this to talk up the bids," said one London-based analyst who wished to remain anonymous.

If successful, the SMG deal would be a boon to Mr Evans - who shot to fame as presenter of Channel 4's popular Big Breakfast morning programme - valuing his 55 per cent stake in Ginger at £125 million.

The sale of Ginger was reportedly prompted by the company's other main shareholders: Virgin Radio founder and billionaire Mr Richard Branson and Apax Partners venture capitalists - both of whom want to cash in their 20 per cent shareholdings.

Media reports said the company had considered going public, but had decided it wanted a trade sale instead.

Sources at SMG, Scotland's largest independent broadcaster and publisher of the Glasgow-based Herald newspaper, said the company has long wanted to expand out of its traditional Scottish base.

"We are interested in the whole of the UK media market. We have been saying that for a while," a company source said, adding he would not comment on the company's interest in Ginger.

In September, SMG said it was trying to increase its 20 per cent stake in British breakfast television company GMTV - a deal company sources said it was still actively pursuing.

Other industry sources said SMG was trying to act as a "poison pill" against the unwanted attentions of hotels and television company Granada Group - a charge SMG officials said was "completely false".

The sources said that in buying Ginger, SMG could make itself less attractive to Granada, which already owns a 20 per cent stake in SMG and is widely expected to launch a takeover bid next year.

Analysts said Granada needs to wait until digital and satellite TV services have diluted its share of the advertising market before it can gain regulatory approval for a bid.