European media group Emap has been spurned by Scottish Radio Holdings, which it has wooed with a takeover offer of around £375 million ($679m; €555m).
SRH, which dominates the radio market in Scotland, says the £10.04 per share bid "significantly undervalues" the business. It believes £12 per share to be more realistic.
London-headquartered Emap already owns 27% of SRH, plus radio stations based in UK metropolitan areas such as London Manchester and Birmingham. It also owns celebrity magazine Heat and a raft of other consumer and B2B titles.
The media conglomerate describes its pursuit of SRH as "an inevitable move and part of a process of consolidation heralded by a change in the law."
This change allows companies to control a larger share of the market, most significantly marked by the recent merger of Capital Radio with GWR to form GCap, now the UK's largest commercial radio group.
Some analysts expect Emap to raise its offer but the company, known as something of a backyard scrapper, has warned it might table a lower hostile bid should market conditions change.
Data sourced from BBC Online; additional content by WARC staff
