Bauer Media Audio has entered into a deal to buy Denis O’Brien’s Communicorp Media Group for an undisclosed sum thought to be around €100 million. The deal will see Bauer Media Audio enter the Republic of Ireland and extend its audio business to eight countries and will help it develop its current position in Europe with over 55 million weekly listeners.
The sale of Communicorp to the German multinational makes sense from O’Brien’s perspective as it frees up O’Brien from his remaining media business interests and allows him to focus on his Digicel mobile phone operation in the Caribbean. While O’Brien is thought to have sold Communicorp for in or around €100m, his radio group is €93m in debt.
Communicorp has a weekly audience of 1.75m, providing news, music, entertainment and sport. The group comprises national stations Today FM and Newstalk, music stations Spin 1038 and 98FM in Dublin, and Spin Southwest in Limerick, digital radio sport station Off The Ball, digital audio exchange audioXI and aggregated listening platform GoLoud.
Pictured above is Communicorp Media owner Denis O’Brien (right) with Ray Darcy.
