LMFM takeover by UTV cleared

The Competition Authority has cleared the €9.5 million takeover of Drogheda-based station LMFM by UTV. A major purchase of shares in Setanta Sports Holdings by US insurance giant AIG has also been cleared by the authority.

UTV wants to purchase LMFM as part of its strategy to expand its media operations in the North and the Republic.

The station, which is owned by Coderidge Ltd, is the most listened to radio station in the Louth/Meath are, with a market share of 27 per cent.

LMFM was awarded a renewal of its broadcasting licence for 10 years in September 2003.

The Competition Authority said the LMFM deal would not substantially lessen competition in the market for advertising services.

The takeover has now been passed to the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mr Martin, for final approval. All media mergers must be sent to the Minister under the 2002 Competition Act.

A spokesman for the Competition Authority also said a significant purchase of shares in Setanta Sports Holdings by AIG had been given approval. The investment by AIG is being made via its sports and entertainment fund.

That deal has also been passed to Mr Martin, who must make a decision shortly.

Setanta has refused to disclose the purchase price until all regulatory hurdles have been cleared. The two founders of Setanta, Mr Leonard Ryan and Mr Michael O'Rourke, are likely to be the main beneficiaries of the deal.

Meanwhile, the LMFM deal is likely to be the final one for UTV for some time.

Before Christmas the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland imposed a new limit on the number of radio stations any one company can own.

UTV is now the largest radio group in the Republic, followed by Mr Denis O'Brien's Communicorp and Scottish Radio Holdings.

Scottish Radio Holdings (SRH) sent out an upbeat message to shareholders yesterday after an encouraging start to the second quarter of its financial year.

The group, which has 22 wholly-owned radio stations and 45 local weekly newspapers, said it was on course for a good result in the year.

It told the company's annual general meeting in Glasgow that revenues from continuing operations in its first quarter - the three months to the end of December - rose 11 per cent on a year earlier, despite tough conditions in the national radio market last month.

Like-for-like sales rose 5 per cent.

SRH's media interests in the Republic include FM104 and Today FM as well as several newspapers, including the Kilkenny People, the Longford Leader and the Tipperary Star.