GCAP Media is on Wednesday expected to be taken over in an agreed £371m deal by Charles Allen’s Global Radio, creating a dominant commercial radio group to challenge the BBC.

The owner of Classic FM and Capital Radio in London is finalising details of the deal after holding a board meeting to discuss it on Thursday.

Fru Hazlitt, GCap’s chief executive, is expected to leave once the takeover is complete. After only three months in the job, she can walk away with close to £1m. That sum is made up of a year’s salary and bonus in lieu of notice and gains on the purchase of GCap shares, which have risen 60% since her appointment and the subsequent approach in December.

Global, which already owns the Heart and Galaxy stations, is expected to sell off stations in London and the Midlands to appease competition concerns. A combination of the two companies will give it a 47% share of radio advertising that is likely to attract the attention of the Office of Fair Trading and the Competition Commission.

GCap’s management team is said to be deeply disappointed not to have been given the chance to lead its own turnround. It was created in 2005 with the merger of Capital Radio and GWR.

Hazlitt joined GCap in May from Virgin Radio, running its London stations before being elevated to replace Ralph Bernard. Her plan involved exiting digital radio to save cash.

Virgin Radio is also about to change hands. Parent company SMG hopes to raise close to £70m, with UTV the favourite to win the auction.

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