Major shareholder seeks to sell stake in advertiser AMS

BB Investment, the largest single investor in Art Marketing Syndicate (AMS), said yesterday that it had stepped up efforts to sell a major stake in the company. The head of the investment fund, which holds a 35% stake in AMS, Eastern Europe's top outdoor advertiser, said his firm was sending out memoranda to potential buyers and hoped to begin talks next month. "The memoranda have been sent to ... more than 10 firms in the advertising sector, as well as media conglomerates, both Polish and foreign," BB Investment chief executive Pawel Turno told Reuters. "We still expect that, with favorable conditions, the sale could take place by the end of this year," he added. Turno said BB Investment was looking for offers of around zl.80 to zl.100 per share, valuing AMS at upwards of zl.337 million. Earlier this year AMS was at the center of an unsuccessful bidding war between media group Agora, which is seeking to diversify its revenue stream, and French advertising leader JC Decaux, which is looking to expand its presence in Poland. Neither firm managed to gain a stake in AMS, after investors decided that the bids, which reached zl.74 per share, were too low. Turno did not name potential buyers, but reports indicate that apart from Agora and JC Decaux, the list might include Clear Channel Communications, News Corp., Viacom, and ITI Holding. (Reuters)