Outdoor advertising firm AMS in search of investor

Art Marketing Syndicate (AMS), Poland's largest outdoor advertising firm worth an estimated zl. 250-300 million, will open a tender in September to find a strategic investor for the company. The company is majority-owned by BB Investment and a group of individuals, who are looking to sell their stake. The tender offer will be directed to big media players, both domestic, such as Agora S.A., publisher of Gazeta Wyborcza, as well as foreign, such as JCDecaux, Clear Channel Communications, Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation and Viacom. Four months ago, Agora S.A. and JCDecaux opened competitive public bids for AMS shares, looking to take control of the company, but neither managed to obtain the targeted amount of shares, mainly because the largest shareholders found the price offered too low. (Gazeta Wyborcza, July 28-29, p.27) T.J.