Advent in talks to sell Euromedia

American investment fund Advent International is in advanced talks to sell Euromedia, the leader on the Romanian outdoor advertising market (billboards), advertising sources told BUSINESS Magazin, the weekly magazine published by Ziarul Financiar every Wednesday.

Euromedia has attracted the attention of four major European players in this industry, and a transaction may occur early next year, sources say.

The major European outdoor groups that could be interested in buying Euromedia, and which already have interests in Central and Eastern Europe, include: JC Decaux (France), ClearChannel (US), Stroer (Germany), EPA Holding (Austria) and Newscorp (US) through News Outdoor.

Advent International representatives declined to comment on the rumoured sale, as did JC Decaux, ClearChannel and EPA representatives.

When contacted by BUSINESS Magazin, the only companies to say they were not interested in Euromedia were News Outdoor and Stroer.

JC Decaux is Europe’s leading outdoor company and ClearChannel is the world number one and Europe’s number two. Austria’s EPA, though small compared with JC Decaux and ClearChannel, has risen spectacularly in recent years to become the main player in Central and Eastern Europe after an aggressive acquisition campaign.

Romania is one of the few countries in which EPA is yet to establish a presence: the company has operations in Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia and Bulgaria. The group’s last acquisition was in Hungary in 2004.

ClearChannel is in Poland and in the Baltic States.

Advent International is the main investor on the Romanian outdoor market. The group, which also owns stake in MobiFon (Connex) and Terapia Cluj, entered the outdoor industry in 1998 when it bought Europlakat. They went on to buy Monopoly Media in 1999 from another investment fund (Romanian Investment Fund). The Europlakat-Monoply merger created the current market leader, Euromedia.

Another significant shareholder in Euromedia after Advent is Romanian businessman Adrian Draghici.
laurentiu.ispir@businessmagazin.ro