Indiantelevision.com Team

(26 April 2008 2:30 pm)

MUMBAI: US media conglomerate CBS has acquired South American out-of-home advertising company International Outdoor Advertising Group (IOA) for $110 million in cash.

IOA has approximately 17,000 advertising faces in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay.

These four countries in which IOA operates comprise more than two-thirds of the continent's population, GDP and advertising-spending growth.

Thus with the closing of the deal, IOA hopes to offer CBS Corporation an entry point and leadership position into the South American market.

CBS Corporation president and CEO Leslie Moonves said, "Outdoor has proven to be a high-growth business for CBS. As an established, locally-managed asset with both breadth and scale in Latin America, IOA is a great complement to our outdoor billboard businesses in Mexico and Spain. Thus it will give us an opportunity to deepen CBS's international footprint into a new continent."

Adding to this, CBS Outdoor International president and CEO Clive Punter said, "We see a lot of potential to expand and grow IOA’s billboard business. We continue to apply best practices from across our international operations to improve each of our locally managed businesses. I'm pleased that Leslie and CBS have afforded us the opportunity to include IOA into our growing portfolio of international assets. IOA will greatly increase the size of the business by adding not only scale but opportunities for leveraging existing business within the group."

IOA CEO Jack Sabaj will continue to manage the business. He will report to Antonio Alonso, chief development officer for CBS Outdoor International and previous general manager of CBS Outdoor in Spain.

Sabaj stated, " The combination of CBS’s operational know-how and available resources will greatly help our ability to grow in South America’s key markets."