Global Radio, the owner of Heart 106.2, has agreed to buy Capital Radio-owner GCap for £375 million.

In a statement to the market last night Global said that its offer of 225p a share for GCap, which also owns Classic FM and Xfm, had been accepted.

The statement said: “The directors of GCap intend unanimously to recommend that shareholders vote in favour of the transaction.”

The deal was finally concluded only one hour after a 5pm deadline that had been set by the Takeover Panel had been extended by 24 hours.

Global's interest in GCap and its initial approach was first revealed by The Times in January.

Charles Allen, the chairman of Global, said: “We believe that this is a very strong business with brands and assets that are highly complementary to those of the Global Radio Group. We are excited by the opportunity to build on GCap's position as the leading commercial radio player and are committed to providing the best platform for both our advertisers and listeners.”

There were concerns over the weekend about whether an Ofcom inquiry into a phone-in competition across GCap's stations could scupper the deal. However, sources said at the time that this was unlikely.

It emerged last week that the owner of Heart 106.2 and Galaxy had succeeded in lining up all the necessary financing to complete the deal despite concerns over the credit crunch and the increasingly grim prospects for the British advertising industry.

Global investors who are backing the deal include the Irish businessmen JP McManus, John Magnier and Dermot Desmond, and Michael Tabor, the father of Global's chief executive, Ashley Tabor. Global's private backers are understood to have agreed to provide two thirds of the funding in cash to acquire GCap.

Global and GCap have have been in talks regarding a possible recommended offer for most of the past month after Global raised its offer for GCap to 225p a share on March 4. A deadline for making a firm offer was originally set for last week but it was extended by five days after a request from Global. GCap had previously rejected two Global offers at 190p and 202p.

GCap's leading institutional shareholders, which include Schroders, Daily Mail and General Trust and Fidelity, had welcomed Global's latest approach. All are long-term investors which had seen the value of their stakes dwindle steadily after Capital Radio and rival GWR merged in 2005 in a £711 million deal.

GCap said in a trading update yesterday morning, before the deadline for Global to table an offer, that underlying revenue in the quarter to the end of March was likely to be up 4percent, while revenues were likely to be flat.

Fru Hazlitt, GCap's recently appointed chief executive, had insisted that her strategy for the group would deliver more value to the company's shareholders than would an offer from Global Radio.

Global Radio bought Chrysalis's radio stations last July for £170 million.

Shares in GCap closed down 4p at 196p.

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