Logan Corporation will “continue its expansion into the South East Asian market with an interest in a national Malaysian FM commercial radio network,” according to Graeme Logan, Managing Director of the Media Investment Group.

Logan Corporation already has a number of Asian operations under the direction of General Manager Asia, Charles Tan.

Logan said: “Despite a great deal of negative media attention surrounding the SARS virus, the opportunities in South East Asia keep growing at an incredible rate. We can only assume that once this media attention goes away the market is going to bounce back stronger than ever.”

Logan outlined the recent findings of Nielsen Media Research, published by media specialist MindShare Malaysia, to highlight the reasons behind Logan Corporation’s decision to pursue a radio deal in Malaysia. These figures show that Malaysia’s advertising expenditure (adex) has registered a 6% year-on-year (YoY) growth in the first quarter of this year to RM782.3mil.

Asian Radio continued to “surge upwards with a healthy growth of 24% YoY to garner 4% share of adex.” MindShare said radio’s portion of adex is likely to continue on an upward trend as several radio stations have announced rate increases this year.

Logan Corporation is currently seeking an investment partner interested in the build and operation of this national radio network which is to be managed under a similar structure to that of Austereo’s current operations in Malaysia. “We have a unique opportunity to build and manage a national FM radio network in Malaysia and are seeking like-minded equity partners to position a new competitor in the growing Malaysian radio market”, said Logan.

Logan Corporation is a Media Investment Group with commercial interest in a number of media businesses encompassing entertainment distribution, free-to-air radio, satellite and digital broadcast.