Company behind UK's most popular gay dating site looking for buyers
Gaydar Radio owner QSoft Consulting is seeking significant cash investment and a possible sale of the company that could see it valued at £10m.
The company, which also owns Gaydar.co.uk, is majority owned by Henry Badenhorst, co-founder with fellow South African Gary Frisch, who died in 2007.
Gaydar, home to the UK's most popular gay dating site, said it had received a "number of recent investment inquiries" and has appointed Ashcombe Advisers to assist in any deal.
QSoft Consulting made pre-tax profits of £929,900 in 2009, up from £736,493 the previous year, on the back of revenues of £7,260,642 (down from £7,650,332 in 2008).
The new cash investment could see the sale of part or the whole of the company.
QSoft is understood to have had "several offers" and one in particular – said to have been a bid for the entire outfit – was being "seriously considered".
Key to any sale is that the Gaydar brand is protected. Any offer which comes in for one part of the company, such as the website, must also be able to demonstrate a suitable business plan for the remaining parts of the business.
The company is said to be keen to expand its global presence, with a particular focus on Australia and South America.
Ashcombe Advisers senior partner Simon Bullivant said: "Having created the world's pre-eminent gay brand, the company recognises that further investment and management expertise is required to fulfil the true commercial potential and demand that is being experienced throughout the international and emerging markets."
Badenhorst and Frisch moved to London from South Africa in 1997 to set up IT firm QSoft. Having previously specialised in revenue management systems for airlines, they set up the Gaydar dating site after a Dutch friend asked them to help him find a boyfriend.
"Gaydar started as something we did on the side," said Badenhorst in an interview in 2009. "We didn't realise what we were creating."
Frisch died in 2007 aged 38 after falling from a balcony. He left Badenhorst an estate worth more than £6.5m.
Gaydar Radio does not subscribe to official industry audience body Rajar but claims more than 750,000 listeners a month. Gaydar.co.uk has 6 million registered users in more than 140 countries.
It is available in the UK online, on digital audio broadcasting (DAB) radio in London and the south-east and via the Gaydar Radio app. It was taken off the Sky Digital platform last year.