Oaktree exits Australia's AMG to strategic player

VMO, a subsidiary of Australian cinema operator Hoyts Group, will add AMG's 4,000 screens into its portfolio and change its name to VMO Active. AMG was previously a division of Oaktree-owned Fitness First Australia; its screens are present in Fitness First and Goodlife health clubs, and it also manages additional assets including Fitness First magazine.

The acquisition is a major step toward VMO's goal of reaching 10,000 screens by the end of the year, and also provides the company an entry into the health and fitness market. VMO's screen networks currently operate mainly in shopping centers, gas stations and office buildings.

"I'm delighted to have acquired a forward-thinking multi-media business that engages traditionally hard-to-reach, high-value audiences in the premium, health and wellbeing category," VMO's Managing Director Anthony Deeble said in a statement. "We are transforming from a purely DOOH [Digital Out-of-Home] business to one with a digital content and publishing arm and that's very exciting."

VMO's parent Hoyts was acquired last year by Wanda Cinema Line Corp, a subsidiary of Chinese property developer Dalilan Wanda Group. The cinema chain was previously owned by Pacific Equity Partners, which bought the company for $440 million in 2007 from PBL and West Australian Newspapers, according to AVCJ Research.

Oaktree had $97 billion in assets under management at the end of 2015; it targets distressed and corporate debt, control investing, convertible securities, real estate and listed equities. The firm opened its first Australia office earlier this year, appointing Byron Beath to lead investment activities in the region.

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• Topics
• Australasia
• Trade sale
• Media
• Australia
• Oaktree Capital
• Dalian Wanda Group