Jagran to acquire Radio City

Foraying into radio business, leading media group Jagran Prakashan (JPL) announced acquisition of Music Broadcast, which operates the Radio City FM stations.

Jagran Prakashan, which runs leading Hindi daily Dainik Jagran, said the all-cash acquisition of Music Broadcast Pvt Ltd (MBPL), which had a turnover of Rs 161.8 crore last fiscal, is expected to provide strong return on investment.
The exact deal size could not be ascertained.

Jagran Prakashan CMD Mahendra Mohan Gupta said, “This deal will catapult JPL into a leadership position in the radio industry and enable us to benefit from the rapid growth in radio advertising.”

Radio business will complement JPL print, outdoor activation and digital business and enable deeper inroads with advertisers both at national and local level, he said.

"The radio business has witnessed significant growth in recent past and is expected to grow at more than 18 per cent CAGR in the coming years,” Gupta said.

The acquisition will be funded through internal accruals and investments and will be an all cash deal, JPL said.

Apart from Dainik Jagran, the group's publications include Midday, Naiduniya, I-Next, City Plus and Punjabi Jagran.

Radio City operates 20 FM stations in seven states. It has presence in metros as Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Lucknow and has a listener base of 10.8 million.