The former boss of Jazz FM, Richard Wheatly, has raised a cool £48 million by floating his new venture, the Local Radio Company, and he's using some of that cash to buy Radio Investments Limited, which owns 22 local radio stations around the UK. Radio Investments, a long established radio player co-owned by GWR, Guardian Media Group and Caledonia Investments, has been struggling of late - but Wheatly says its old owners wanted to sell because of pending competition issues not because of any pessimism in long term financial future. He reckons the 22 stations will provide a good hub on which to build his empire.
Wheatly told the Media Guardian yesterday: "We've been looking at opportunities to build what we are calling a 'second tier radio group' since we left Jazz FM. This gives us a good building block to capitalise on the recovery in local radio advertising and to capitalise on future acquisitions to build a network of local radio stations."
GWR will make £10.6 million from the deal, which it will use to further reduce current debts, which currently stand at £65 million. With radio advertising revenues in general growth, the radio group hope to have good financial news for investors when they next officially report.