BBC Worldwide has bought Lonely Planet, the travel book publisher, as part of its ambitious global expansion plans.

The move is likely to prove controversial, as the BBC has been attacked for distorting competition with its commerical activities.

BBC Worldwide bought a 75 per cent stake from Tony and Maureen Wheeler, the couple who founded the company in 1972 after travelling on the hippy trail to India, and their partner John Singleton, who became a shareholder in 1999, for an undisclosed sum. The Wheelers will retain a 25 per cent share.

BBC Worldwide, the BBC's commercial arm, said it will use its content under the Lonely Planet brand, saying the organisations shared similar audiences and values. But the move willl anger critics who argue the corporation is able to use brands established using licence fees to extend its commerical dominance.

The Melbourne-based operation publishes around 500 titles in several languages, but recent years have seen the brand extended on to television and the internet.

Etienne de Villiers, non-executive chairman of BBC Worldwide, said that the Wheelers had rejected buy-out offers in the past. He added: "We are are all convinced that the association will strengthen Lonely Planet’s visibility and growth potential, particularly in the digital arena, as well as providing their users access to the wide range of BBC content which connects with their interests."

A spokeswoman said the acquisition had been approved by the BBC Trust and that its value fell comfortably under the £350 million cap on BBC Worldwide borrowing. She added: "The deal has been through all the necessary mills in looking at the separation of funding. The owners are private owners and they came of their own free will to discuss with us taking their business to the next level."

In a statement, Tony and Maureen Wheeler said: "Joining BBC Worldwide allows us to secure the long-term future of our company within a globally recognised media group. In our discussions with John and his team, we felt that BBC Worldwide would provide a platform true to our vision and values, while allowing us to take the business to the next level.”

Stephen Palmer, Lonely Planet's chief executive for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said the firm hoped to gain from BBC Worldwide's internet expertise.

He said: "One of the things we will be engaged together on is how we enhance the Lonely Planet offering online. Whilst it's a successful site at the moment, with 4.3 million unique users a month, there's a feeling that we can do more.

"BBC Worldwide have expertise in that field and will help us get to where we need to get."

He added that the focus was on the "searchability and stickability" of the website. Co-operation on content will come later, he said.

"That's part of the excitement of the deal. We bring into their portfolio travel as a passion point and we're very much a complement to what they're doing with cars, food, gardening and so on."

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