JUST two days after denying its regional radio stations were for sale, Macquarie Media Group is rumoured to be in talks with WIN Corp about a possible acquisition.

The speculation came as sources ruled out Babcock & Brown as a likely buyer in the shake-up of Australia’s media sector, despite speculation its main rival, Macquarie Bank, which owns 20 per cent of MMG, is about to make a move into the sector.

The speculation came as sources ruled out Babcock & Brown as a likely buyer in the shake-up of Australia’s media sector, despite speculation its main rival, Macquarie Bank, which owns 20 per cent of MMG, is about to make a move into the sector.

Unlike foreign private equity groups, Macquarie Bank and B&B do not have to wait for the Federal Government’s new media laws allowing cross-media and foreign ownership to come into force if they want to buy media assets.

But sources close to B&B say the $5.8 billion investment group would probably be interested only in media infrastructure — for instance, printing presses  spun off from any sale of media companies.

WIN, Australia’s largest regional TV network, is owned by Bermuda-based billionaire Bruce Gordon. The group owns telecommunications infrastructure, a fledgling pay TV company, stakes in Ten and Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd and more than $100 million of property. Mr Gordon has been approached in the past and has said he wouldn’t sell the group for less than $1 billion.

WIN chief executive George Papadopoulos and chairman Andrew Gordon, the son of its owner, did not return calls yesterday.

A source close to MMG said it was interested in WIN. However, the Macquarie-backed fund is concerned that Australian media assets are too expensive. MMG owns 85 regional radio stations and a Taiwanese cable company. It is looking around the globe for assets, and executive chairman Tim Hughes said in August that it was “very hard for us to see much value” in some of the prices media companies are trading at in Australia.

Analysts estimate WIN earns more than $50 million a year before tax. But there is little financial information available on the privately owned company.

One analyst said the deal could make sense because MMG could on-sell some of the telecommunications assets to its sister fund, Macquarie Communications Infrastructure Group. source SMH