Mason Hayes & Curran LLP acted for Bauer Media Group in Ireland’s most significant media transaction in many years, the acquisition of Communicorp Group from Denis O’Brien.
The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, will involve our client, Bauer acquiring national stations Today FM and Newstalk, as well as local 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 are also part of the Communicorp Group. This transformative transaction involves a change of ownership of the majority of the commercial radio segment of the Irish media enterprises not controlled by State owned RTÉ.
The transaction will involve the Bauer Media Group’s entry into Ireland’s radio market, its eighth European market. Bauer Media Group operates radio stations in the UK (including Cool FM, Downtown Radio and the digital-only Downtown Country in Northern Ireland) Sweden, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Denmark and Finland with an estimated listener base of 55 million. The fifth generation family owned Bauer Media Group also operates hundreds of websites and magazines – including Grazia, Heat, Empire and Take a Break and employs about 15,000 people.
