Charles Allen, the former boss of ITV, and the group of tycoons who emerged yesterday as the buyers of Chrysalis Radio hope to sweep up further assets in an attempt to create the leading commercial challenger to the BBC.

Mr Allen is chairing the acquisition vehicle that is offering £170 million for the Heart and Galaxy radio operation. His presence is a signal that the buyers will not stop there, with UTV, the Talksport owner, and SMG, the owner of Virgin Radio, potential targets.

The buyer, Global Radio, will be run by Ashley Tabor, the 30-year-old talent agent behind Corinne Bailey Rae, and backed by his father Michael Tabor in tandem with the Irish investors John Magnier, JP McManus and Dermot Desmond via their investment fund Lydian Capital.

Global Radio declined to comment yesterday, although Richard Huntingford, the chief executive of Chrysalis, said: “Although we believed we had the most credible management team in the radio business, it was difficult for us to raise the capital needed to complete radio consolidation. Global Radio may well find it easier as a private vehicle.”

Mr Huntingford, who steered Chrysalis’s move into radio, winning the first licence for Heart in 1994, will leave the company when the deal is completed. Chrysalis plans to return up to £100 million to investors, which will mean that £24.5 million goes to Chris Wright, the founder and chairman. The rump Chrysalis will concentrate on its music publishing business, with debts cut from £65 million to £20 million. That unit generated £1.9 million in underlying profit in the half to February 28 on sales of £29 million, while the radio arm made £3.4 million.

Until now Ashley Tabor has been in the headlines for being caught up in a minor scandal on The X Factor. Avenue, a band that he managed, were thrown out of the ITV talent competition because the programme’s rules state that all competitors must be unsigned.

Separately, GCap Media, the market leader and owner of Classic FM, held talks about a merger with Emap’s Kiss and Magic radio unit this year. Although these broke up after the ousting of Tom Moloney as Emap’s chief executive, GCap remains interested.

Chrysalis Radio is the No 3 operator and its management, led by Phil Riley, will transfer with the deal, reporting to Michael Tabor.

It is not clear that it will be possible for Chrysalis to combine easily with GCap as there is likely to be an overlap of stations in the Midlands and London. Emap’s radio unit is part of a larger group.

There remain plenty of targets. SMG is trying to demerge Virgin Radio at a valuation of about £80 million; UTV, another ITV company, is also looking to build a larger radio business; while Chrysalis has tried in the past to buy Guardian Media Group’s radio unit.

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