Maribor/Budapest - The Maribor-based radio station Radio City has been acquired by companies Media Moment and Radio Factory, owned by Hungarian Gabor Deak, the newspaper Večer reports, quoting Hungarian web portal Medial. It says Deak is linked to the circles of Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Both companies have confirmed for the Hungarian portal the acquisition of a 100% stake in Radio City, which had been so far been owned by Mišo Hölbl.

The value of the deal, which will reportedly step into force when "all the required proceedings" in Slovenia are concluded, has not been disclosed.

The CEOs of the two Hungarian companies, Arpad Turi and Szilard Szekely, wrote in a statement that no staffing or programme changes were planned for now. The new owners said they would strive to make the radio station more powerful and influential.

Radio Factory owns several radio stations in Hungary, including Radio1, Best FM and Retro Radio.

The sale had been confirmed by Hölbl for the weekly Mladina last week, but he said the deal would be closed for him when the money was transferred.

He said three bids had arrived for Radio City - one from Serbia, one from Hungary and another one.

Hungarian media conglomerate TV2, which owns media company Planet TV through the company TV2 Adria, has been mentioned as a bidder, but TV2 Adria denied this a few days ago.

According to Večer, the owner of the two Hungarian companies which bought Radio City, Deak, as well as Jozsef Vida, who is behind TV2, are associated with Hungarian oligarch Lorinc Meszaros, who media say is a childhood friend of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.