Euromedia, the leader on the outdoor advertising market, will be acquired by Plasty Prod, a Romanian advertising production company with the financial backing of a Greek businessman, sources close to the deal told Business Magazin.
The sale by American investment fund Advent International to Plasty Prod went ahead despite several major international groups, including ClearChannel (United States), JC Decaux (France) and APG Affichage (Switzerland), having expressed interest.
JC Decaux and APG Affichage have delayed entry on the Romanian market until next year at the earliest, sources say. The deal is estimated at 15-20 million dollars (11.5-15.3 million euros).
Officials from Advent International and Plasty Prod declined to comment on the details of the deal. The latest information indicates that the new buyer intends to retain the current management team after the sale. Euromedia chief executive Adrian Draghici is, after all, one of the main shareholders in the company.
Euromedia, which accounts for 45-50% of the Romanian outdoor advertising market, was created in 1998-1999 by the Advent fund with investments of nearly 10 million dollars.
The fund postponed the sale until this year, when evidence of a revival in the outdoor market became clearly visible amid overall growth in the advertising market.
The outdoor market resumed growth in 2003 and currently is worth around 18-20 million dollars. Average billboard occupancy rates have also increased to 50-60%, with peaks of 80-90% at times.
The last important outdoor transaction in Romania took place in 2002, when Swedish investment fund Oresa Ventures sold Churchill Media, the market number three, to the shareholders of Efect Media, the then number four, who later sold the company to Lucian Palaz, a businessman from Constanta
