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Commercial radio group GCap Media plc has bought an undisclosed but majority stake in local social networking website welovelocal.com.

The site, which helps people find businesses in their area by providing reviews and their own recommendations, was bought for £450,000 in cash.

The company was sold by founders Duncan and Max Jennings, with the terms of the deal including further staged payments totalling £150,000 if targets are achieved.

The deal will allow GCap to build online communities to exploit the local presence of its operations and access new classified revenue streams. GCap will integrate the acquired business’ listings and reviews into its Capital 95.8 and One Network sites, which will support its broadcasting operations.

This deal follows an announcement in February by GCap’s chief executive Fru Hazlitt to enhance its online presence.

Hazlitt said this is a great opportunity for GCap. “welovelocal.com is a business in its infancy but is already showing excellent audience growth. We will be able to accelerate this growth to reinforce our connection to our local communities.”

Duncan Jennings said this is the first deal of its kind to leverage an established media company’s audience to grow its community website.

“We now have the opportunity to build on this early success and hit a critical mass of local business reviews through collaborating with GCap’s millions of listeners,” he added. “This will set us apart from our competitors and significantly increase our advertisers’ exposure.”

GCap attracts 14.8 million listeners through its portfolio of brands, which include Classic FM, Capital 95.8, Smooth Radio and XFM.

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