APN Outdoor and oOh! Media are to merge – on both sides of the Tasman – to create a giant out-of-home and online media group operating across New Zealand and Australia.
The merger was announced to the Australian Stock Exchange this morning, with the companies explaining the rationale behind the decision is to create a “long-term and diversified asset base across classic, digital and formats”.
The ASX announcement arrived in NZ too late for M+AD to get confirmation and comment from the NZ offices of both companies – we are following this up as we speark, and will publish more details tomorrow.
Estimates of the merged group’s profits for 2016 range around the NZ$200m mark, with the merger forecast to achieve cost synergies of around $25m a year.
According to the ASX announcement the merger would have “significant value accretion to be shared by both shareholder groups”.
The transaction is expected to be implemented by April 2017.
Ownership of the merged group ownership will be split between APN Outdoor and oOh! Media shareholders 55% and 45% respectively.
The directors of APN Outdoor and oOh! have unanimously agreed that the transaction is in the best interests of their respective shareholder groups. Ooh Media’s board of directors have recommended the company’s shareholders vote in favour of the scheme.
- M+AD will have more details tomorrow
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