At least three and possibly four companies are believed to have submitted first-round bids for SMG's Virgin Radio.

Glasgow-based SMG would not comment on the bidding process last night but offers between £60m and £70m were expected from Global Radio, UTV, which owns the Ulster TV franchise, and the private equity firm Vitruvian.

Absolute Radio, a small UK broadcaster backed by Irish property developers, is also thought to have entered the fray.

None of the potential bidders replied to inquiries made by The Herald last night.

SMG, which owns STV and other assets, would not confirm speculation about bidders.

"We are keeping a tight line on this," an SMG source told The Herald. "We are in no hurry to make a sale."

In a similar process last summer, SMG failed to raise bids of more than £58m, but since then, the company has put itself on a more secure footing by refinancing and issuing new shares.

SMG has been trying for more than a year to sell Virgin Radio as part of a plan to get rid of non-core assets. It bought the firm from the broadcaster Chris Evans for £225m in 2000.

Its earliest valuation put the station's worth at more than £100m, but a generally un-favourable outlook for consumer-supported media companies, the increasing likeli- hood of an advertising slowdown and the competing attractions of Chrysalis Radio, Emap Radio and, most recently, GCap Media have all contributed to decreasing that amount.

SMG has written down the value of Virgin Radio to around £85m but City media industry analysts believe it is worth much less.

The group has already sold the Prime Sight outdoor advertising business and is looking for a taker for Pearl & Dean, the once-dominant cinema sales company.