Agora forces price decrease in purchase of Art Marketing Syndicate ad firm

As anticipated, media giant Agora has signed an appendix to its agreement to buy Art Marketing Syndicate (AMS) the country's largest outdoor advertising company. The media holding has managed to decrease the amount to be paid, in three installments, for AMS from the original zl. 172.5 million to zl. 165.5 million. According to the published appendix, AMS's majority shareholder, BB Investments, will have to increase the share capital of the advertising agency by zl. 24 million. BB Investments will have to pay AMS zl. 14 million by December 16, 2002 and further zl. 10 million by March of next year. Moreover, it will have to cover all the liabilities of AMS and its subsidiary Adpol, which together amount to a total of zl. 11.5 million. BB Investments has also been obliged to buy an advertising campaign from AMS at a cost of over zl. 7 million. Analysts agree that Agora has set tough conditions for the shareholders. However, the transaction may fail to go ahead if BB Investments does not present bank guarantees for increasing its share capital and covering the liabilities of AMS, which is scheduled for today. "Agora had the opportunity to negotiate better terms. In practice, BB Investments had to agree to all conditions," said a source close to the transaction. (Puls Biznesu, pp. 1, 4) M.M.