Quebecor Media announced last week its Quebecor Out-of-Home division has reached an agreement in principle with Montreal-based Media Group Inc. to acquire NEO-OOH’s Canada-wide out-of-home advertising business.
Financial details were not disclosed about the transaction, which is subject to customary conditions and is expected to close in the coming weeks, a Quebecor Media press release said.
When the deal closes, Quebecor Out-of-Home’s advertising network footprint will expand to more than 17,000 advertising faces across Canada, the release said. NEO’s out-of-home (OOH) networks include more than 3,000 advertising faces at more than 600 sites in 250 communities across nine Canadian provinces, according to the release. Quebecor Out-of-Home has the largest inventory of street furniture in Quebec with more than 14,000 advertising faces, including a network of standard and digital transit shelters, as well as ad faces on taxi screens, taxi domes and buses, the release said.
“We are very pleased to have reached this agreement in principle with NEO, a solid company with which we share values of excellence in both performance and customer service,” Pierre Karl Péladeau, president and CEO of Quebecor, said in the release. “By combining NEO’s Canada-wide strength with Quebecor Out-of-Home’s unrivalled depth in Québec, we’ll be able to offer our local and national advertising partners an even more comprehensive suite of impactful solutions. This acquisition will enable Quebecor to pursue its growth across the country and become a major out-of-home player in Canada.”
“It is an honour to pass the torch of NEO’s growth to a company of Quebecor’s stature,” said Ronald Tapiero, president and CEO of parent company Media Group, in a statement. “I am confident that Quebecor Out-of-Home will take our NEO Shopping, NEO Fitness, NEO On The Go and NEO Mobile networks to the next level. I am grateful to all the associates who have been part of the NEO adventure, which began 22 years ago. I thank Pierre Karl Péladeau, Michel Drouin of Quebecor Out-of-Home and the entire Quebecor management team for placing their trust in us.”
With the addition of NEO, the expansion of Quebecor’s OOH network “will further enhance and diversify Quebecor Expertise Media’s multiplatform offering,” Quebecor Media’s press release said.
“Quebecor’s integrated sales force offers advertisers powerful leverage through 10 TV channels, including TVA and LCN, with a combined 41% market share, 30 websites and apps, 2 newspapers, 12 print and digital magazines, a digital radio station that also broadcasts on TV and FM, and a comprehensive out-of-home network (transit shelters, shopping centres, sports venues, gas stations, convenience stores and mobile),” the release said.
Quebecor Media isn’t the only media company in Canada to expand its OOH advertising footprint recently.
Earlier this year, Bell Media completed its $410-million acquisition of Outfront Media’s Canadian OOH advertising business.
