Polish anti-monopoly watchdog approves big takeover on media market

The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection in Poland approved the takeover of Eurozet Group, the broadcaster of several Polish radio stations by Czech Media Invest.

The purchase of Polish, Czech, Romanian and Slovakian radio stations owned by Lagardère by Czech Media Invest was announced in April. The transaction fee is EUR 73 mln.

The Eurozet group is a broadcaster of Radio ZET, the second most popular nationwide radio station in Poland, and three smaller channels: Antyradio, Meloradio and Chillzet, along with the websites of these radio stations. Along with ZPR media group, Eurozet is running the network of social-religious radio stations Radio Plus.

According to the Radio Track research, from March to May, Radio ZET had 13.1 percent of the audience market in Poland.

Czech Media Invest publishes newspapers, magazines, websites and books in Czech Republic. It also owns two printer works, and a press distribution network. In 2014 one of its companies took over the Czech department of German-Swiss media tycoon Ringier Axel Springer.

The transaction involves also the takeover of Lagardère radio assets in Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia.

The company sees this purchase as the part of its development strategy, which includes activity on the new sectors of media markets.

Lagardère company has been the owner of Eurozet group since the early 1990s.