Selling stake "in best interests"
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Swindon-based GWR has bowed to a competition ruling and said it will sell its stake in two regional radio stations.
The local radio group said its interest in Ipswich-based Vibe FM and Vibe 101, which covers south Wales and the west of England, would be sold.
The group plans to sell its 49% stake in the stations' owner Vibe Radio Services Limited (VRSL) to Scottish Radio Holdings, which owns the other 51%, for £17.6m.
VRSL bought Bristol-based Galaxy radio from the owner of Heart FM last year, and renamed it Vibe 101.
But after an investigation by the Competition Commission, competition minister
Melanie Johnson said the tie-up was against the public interest.
The commission ruled that the acquisition could reduce local radio advertising competition in the Bristol and Bath, and Taunton and Yeovil areas.
GWR chairman Ralph Bernard said that the group had been given a list of possible options to resolve the issue, but decided that selling its stake was in its best interests.
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