News Corp sells Russian, Romanian outdoor ads business
22 Jul 2011
News Corp, which is in the midst of a phone hacking scandal in the UK, today sold its 79-per cent stake in News Outdoor Russia and News Outdoor Romania to a group of investors led by Russian state-run VTB Capital, for an undisclosed sum.
The other investors are NOOH Investments Cooperatief UA, representing Peter Gerwe, and Marathon Outdoor Cooperatief UA, which is managed by Alfa Capital Partners.
The remaining 21-per cent stake in the business has been retained by the management.
Russian newspaper Kommersant yesterday said the Russian business, which had been up for sale for several years, was worth about $350 million, excluding debt, while the Vedomosti newspaper, citing an unidentified source, said that the 79 per cent stake was sold for $270 million.
This transaction completes News Corp's divestment of its outdoor advertising business, with the exception of News Outdoor Czech Republic, said News Corp in a statement.
News Outdoor Russia is the largest outdoor advertising company in the country operating 40,000 advertising displays in more than 50 Russian cities, while News Outdoor Romania is the second largest outdoor advertising company in Romania with an inventory of more than 3,600 advertising faces of numerous formats including standard billboards, highway bridges, roof top advertising and large unipole billboards.