CHAMP PE approved for oOh!media buyout
CHAMP Private Equity has received unanimous approval by the board of directors of Australian out-of-home advertising firm oOh!media to purchase the company for A$163 million ($163 million), capping off the firm’s 2011 on a high and marking its first buyout in a year.
CHAMP first launched its takeover bid last month, proposing to buy the company's shares for A$0.325 apiece. It initially bought 9% of oOh!media and has since acquired an additional 10% follow-on stake.
CHAMP's A$0.325 offer represents a 103% premium to the value of oOh!media's shares on November 9, the day before oOh!media entered into exclusive negotiations with CHAMP. Reports note that CHAMP's bid has not been matched by any other suitor - such as QMS Asia Pacific Outdoor, a subsidiary of Qatar Media Services, which owns 15% of oOh!Media - making the board's choice clear.
The PE firm acquires its shares through Outdoor Media Operations, a Cayman-based company owned by CHAMP III Funds. In light of this arrangement, CHAMP has additionally offered stakeholders the option to sell their oOh!media shares for A$0.10 and retain the rest of their value in Outdoor Media Investments.
"The proposal provides a liquidity outcome for all OOH shareholders which they may not otherwise receive in the absence of a superior proposal," oOh!media Chairman Graham Jones publicly said.
The overall process has been endorsed by oOh!media's current shareholders including Macquarie Group, which holds which holds 27% of the company, and UK-based advertising and media network WPP, which holds a 23% stake.
The deal needs approval from the remaining shareholders, who will meet in February.
oOh!media claims to be Australia's only listed specialist outdoor media company, maintaining a focus on out-of-home advertising solutions across road, retail and experiential media platforms. Though much of Australia's advertising industry has struggled amid ongoing economic uncertainty, oOh!media has largely surmounted these troubles. The company claimed a 36% year-on-year increase in net profit to $3.5 million for the first half of 2011, It additionally claimed a 9% increase in revenue, reaching $55.3 million, and an EBITDA of $10.3 million, up 7% year-on-year.
If CHAMP is approved for the purchase - which is seen to be likely - oOh!media will mark be the firm's first buyout since its acquisition of wine purveyor Constellation Brands. In that deal, announced before Christmas 2010, Constellation Brands agreed to sell its UK and Australian interests for approximately $290 million.
In the meantime, CHAMP's 2011 has been most notable for its sale of Manassen Foods, the maker of Jelly Belly Jelly Beans and Carr's Water Crackers, to China's Bright Food Group. Bright Food had long held ambitions to take a significant step into overseas markets, and after being thwarted in other food deals, the firm purchased a 75% majority stake in Manassen, valuing the enterprise at $525 million.
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