An investment group backed by Irish tycoons JP McManus and John Magnier was today reported to be in talks to buy Chrysalis’s radio arm for up to £180m (€267m).

WHEN Dermot Desmond bought the near-bankrupt London City Airport from the building firm John Mowlem he probably didn’t believe that 11 years later it would net him a profit of a cool €1 billion.

Richard Branson was today said to be planning to merge gym chain Holmes Place with his own health club, Virgin Active.

HEALTH club owner Next Generation has whittled its suitors down to Whitbread, Esporta and property firm London & Regional, with bids around £200 million (€288.1 million), according to sources close to the auction.

A COMPANY connected to the Coolmore Stud farm operation paid out over €1.4 million in dividends to shareholders last year.

A CHAIN of fitness centres owned by John Magnier, JP McManus and Dermot Desmond is expected to be put up for sale this week.

THE ‘Coolmore Mafia’ are poised to cash in on their stake in a chain of fitness clubs in Britain.

THE Coolmore Mafia are looking at a takeover of the Queen’s tennis club in London.

BRITISH fitness club chain Next Generation, whose shareholders include Dermot Desmond, John Magnier and former Kerry Group chairman Denis Brosnan, are believed to be eyeing up a stock market flotation.