The owner of the Daily Mail has moved closer to a full takeover of UK radio major GWR, by buying out its Australian radio operations. Daily Mail & General Trust paid to acquire GWR's interests in an Australian radio operation in return for new shares in GWR - this takes the publisher's stake in GWR to 29.9% - the maximum allowed before it has to launch a full bid. "Is this a further tightening of the noose or a simplification of the relationship between the two groups allowing DMG an exit in time? We suspect the former," Merill Lynch analyst Steve Liechti told the Media Guardian.
Although DMGT has long been rumoured as a possible buyer for GWR, the group’s finance director Peter Williams, has said it is unlikely to make any major moves into radio before the communications bill, which covers cross-media ownership, becomes law.
GWR hoped the sale of its stake in a network of 31 Australian stations would help cut its heavy debt load, though the deal was met with a lukewarm reception by the city because the sale valued the stake in the Aus business at a smaller figure than had been expected.
What complete ownership of GWR by the Daily Mail group would mean for programming is unclear – GWR is already one of the most corporate and commercial of the UK radio groups so there is a chance new ownership would have little effect on programme style. That said, any financial demands from new investors might mean a further reduction in local services as more and more parts of local stations get centralised.