Media group UTV has bought Dublin radio station FM104 from Communicorp Group Ltd for €52m.
The deal is still subject to approval from the Competition Authority, the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland and UTV shareholders.
In October, the broadcasting regulator approved the sale of two radio stations to Dublin-based Communicorp by British media group Emap, but rejected its bid for FM104 on competition grounds.
The disposal of FM104 is expected to enable the sale of Highland Radio in Donegal and national broadcaster Today FM to Communicorp.
Emap said in July it had agreed to sell the three stations to Communicorp for around €200m in cash.
UTV's radio division has a number of stations on the island of Ireland including Cork, Limerick, Drogheda and Belfast.
FM104 recorded pre-tax profits of €2.95m on turnover of €9.5m for the year to March 2007. It had gross assets of €5m as at March 31, 2007.
'The acquisition will significantly enhance UTV's presence in the critical and highly competitive Dublin radio market and represents a further significant step in the implementation of UTV's stated strategy of building a network of leading radio stations in Ireland's key urban areas,' a statement from UTV said.
The group said a combination of FM104 and its existing station in Dublin, Q102, would have a total weekday share of 18.8% in the city.
UTV also said today that its current trading is in line with expectations. It said that despite the slowing Irish economy, the group's radio business in Ireland continues to show a solid performance.
It said that it has put 'considerable effort' into remedying the issues which led to underperformance in its local Irish radio advertising in the second quarter and an improving position is now starting to emerge.
'In the second half, advertising revenue from UTV's radio stations in Ireland is expected to be up by 6% on the same period in 2006,' the company said.
It had previously noted that the UK radio advertising market was showing signs of recovery and said today that this trend has improved through the second half of the year.
It also said that the underperformance of its television revenues in the third quarter has been offset by an improved performance in the final quarter of the year.
