Gail Chiasson, North American Editor
OUTFRONT Media Inc., New York, and JCDecaux SA, Paris, have entered into an agreement to sell the Latin America business of OUTFRONT Media to JCDecaux Latin America / Corameq, which is 85% owned by JCDecaux SA.
The purchase price is $82 million cash, subject to working capital and indebtedness adjustments.
The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2016, subject to customary closing conditions including regulatory approval.
As of December 31, 2014, OUTFRONT Media’s Latin America business operated 11,390 total displays across Mexico, Chile, Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina, mainly in the large format and bus advertising segment. Revenues for the year ended December 31, 2014 were $72.5 million.
Jeremy Male, chairman and CEO, OUTFRONT Media, says, “The sale of our Latin America business is firmly in line with our strategy to increase focus on markets where we maintain a leadership position. Our operations will be in excellent hands under JCDecaux’s stewardship.”
“The acquisition of OUTFRONT Media’s Latin America business is a key milestone in our development on this continent, strengthening our No. 1 outdoor advertising position in the region with a strong platform to further accelerate our investment and development based on internal and external growth opportunities,” says Jean-Charles Decaux, Co-CEO of JCDecaux,
“With more than 55,000 advertising displays in Latin America, JCDecaux will even better serve cities and citizens, while providing exceptional visibility to the advertisers and their brands in 29 cities of more than one million inhabitants.
“In this unprecedented period of consolidation in Latin America, JCDecaux will be pleased to welcome OUTFRONT Media Latin America teams as the great work that has been performed to date will be key to continue growing in the different countries.”
The acquisition of OUTFRONT Media’s Latin America business is a strategic move for JCDecaux as it will reinforce significantly its leading position in Mexico, the 15th largest economy worldwide and the 2nd in Latin America, and consolidate the very fragmented Latin America Outdoor Advertising market with great opportunities to accelerate the ongoing digitalization of outdoor media assets. With this acquisition, JCDecaux will confirm its number one position in Brazil and Chile and will become the market leader in Uruguay. The Group will be present in the 10 wealthiest cities in Latin America: Sao Paulo, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Santiago, Bogota, Lima, Brasilia, Monterrey and Guadalajara.
Subsequent to the close of the transaction, OUTFRONT’s international business will consist exclusively of its operations in Canada where, as of December 31, 2014, it operated 5,984 displays, including the Street Furniture operations in Vancouver in partnership with JCDecaux, and generated revenues of $82.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2014.
Citigroup Global Markets Inc. is acting as financial advisor and Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP is acting as legal advisor to OUTFRONT Media Inc.
JCDecaux is the largest outdoor advertising company in the world. JCDecaux is listed on Euronext Paris and is part of the Euronext100 index. JCDecaux invented the concept of street furniture in 1964 and today is the only global company that is exclusively focused on outdoor advertising. JCDecaux is number one worldwide in street furniture, number one worldwide in transport advertising, the European leader in billboard advertising and the number one worldwide for self-service bicycle hire. Employing 12,300 people, the Group has operations in more than 70 countries around the world, and has a presence in 3,700 cities with more than 10,000 inhabitants for which it offers attractive, high-quality street furniture. JCDecaux operates more than 49,000 premium digital advertising screens in 30 countries, in city centers, in the main airports, mass transit systems, rail stations and shopping centers, and along highways. The Group generated total revenues of €2,813 million in 2014, and €1,460m in H1 2015.
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