Capital Radio bags Border TV

Capital is the UK's largest commercial radio group

The UK's largest commercial radio group Capital Radio has won the battle for control of Border TV.

It has bought the company for £146m.

The television company had faced a rival bid for £141m from Scottish Radio Holdings.

Border TV's chief executive Paul Corley has welcomed the offer and played down fears of any job losses.

Few job fears

"Suffice to say that each of the businesses is located in a different part of the country so in that sense, we have to keep a presence in this part of the country," he said.

"I would be very hopeful that all the prospects for staff would be positive," he added.

The Capital takeover will be good for the future of the business, he said, and will maintain the quality of the TV and radio service.

Border Television is the UK Independent Television Company covering Cumbria, the South of Scotland, and the Isle of Man. It began broadcasting in 1961.

The Capital strategy

The deal is part of Capital's strategy to build a national analogue radio presence.

"Border represents a very attractive opportunity to acquire a well branded and dynamic radio business with good potential for further growth and a television franchise which is extremely well run with a strong management team," Capital Radio's chief executive David Mansfield said in a statement.

The offer values each Borders share at £13.52.

This represents a premium of about 64% to Border's stock price before Scottish Radio announced its rival bid last month.

Earlier in the week, Scottish Radio raised its offer for Border, valuing its shares at £13.02.

Capital began broadcasting in London in 1973, when it became one of the first two licensed commercial stations on air.

It now operates 15 stations in London, Birmingham, Cardiff, Oxford, Kent, Sussex and Hampshire

The radio group expects the strong advertising market to buoy revenues for the rest of the year.

It will shortly report radio revenues for the first half of the year, about 14% ahead of the comparable period of last year.