Inda’s 20-station network Radio City 91.1FM is now officially a part of Jagran Prakashan Limited (JPL) with the deal of its sale being signed off by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting on Thursday.

The network was being operated by Music Broadcast Private Limited (MBPL) and had reported $25.4 million (Rs 1.62 billion) revenues in FY14.

India Value Funds Advisor holds 55 percent stake in MBPL and Star Group holds 20 percent.

JPL is a media and communications group with interests in newspapers, magazines, outdoor advertising, promotional marketing, event management and digital businesses.

Its flagship brand is Hindi daily Dainik Jagran and this is its first radio venture.

In a press release, Radio City said that being a part of Jagran family will enable it to offer a more comprehensive bouquet of services to the advertisers.

The network will continue to operate under the management control of its current leadership.

Talking about the development, Apurva Purohit, CEO, Radio City 91.1FM said: “This is great news for both Jagran & Radio City and more importantly, signals a desire amongst all stakeholders to see that the FM industry flourishes and grows. I am glad that the approval is in place now. With this, the pioneer and leader in FM gets to be a part of one of the largest media houses in India. We now look forward to expanding aggressively in the upcoming phase 3 and cross leveraging on strengths.“

Commenting further, Shailesh Gupta, Director, JPL said: “Great news. The deal further consolidates JPL’s leadership position and complements our other businesses of Print, OOH, Digital and Activations. It gives us a greater leverage to provide better solutions to our advertisers. Radio City is one of the most exciting FM brands in the industry today, and together we look forward to take it to newer heights.”