** Vinyl Group VNL.AX rises as much as 4.5% to A$0.093, highest since January 20

** Vinyl records retailer to acquire assets of Val Morgan Digital, a direct competitor to co's publishing arm Vinyl Media, for A$10.5 million ($7.4 million)

** Val Morgan Digital's assets include key partnerships, ANZ licences with BuzzFeed Inc., Fandom, LADbible Group, Vox Media

** About 386,000 shares traded, 1.3x the 30-day avg

** YTD, VNL gains 5.9%

($1 = A$1.4144)

(Reporting by Anjali Singh in Bengaluru)

((anjali.singh2@thomsonreuters.com;))