Paris – September 26, 2006 - JCDecaux SA, (Euronext Paris: DEC), the number one outdoor advertising company in Europe and Asia-Pacific, announced today that it has acquired VVR-Berek, the Berlin Outdoor Advertising company. As announced in the press release published on August 23, 2006, Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG), one of the largest public transport companies in the world, announced that it intended to sell its 100% indirect stake in the VVR-Berek outdoor advertising company to JCDecaux following a European-wide tender process. The transaction, which has now received official approval from the German competition authorities, is valued at €103m.
VVR-Berek, which has operated outdoor advertising contracts in Berlin since 1921, employs a total of 83 people and manages exclusive long-term contracts for both the city of Berlin and the transport company BVG. With its 3.5 million inhabitants, Berlin is the largest city in Germany, Europe’s largest advertising market, in which VVR-Berek generated advertising revenues of approximately €27m in 2005, evenly split between Street Furniture (50%) and Transport (50%).
In the Street Furniture division, the company’s extensive portfolio of advertising panels includes 3,000 columns (the highest number in any city worldwide), lampposts and clocks as part of a 7-year contract, with the option of a 5-year extension. In the Transport segment, VVR-Berek manages 1,240 buses – including 400 double-decker buses – and the thousands of panels in the Berlin metro, one of the largest underground transport systems in Europe, within a 15-year contract, with the option of a 5-year extension.
Commenting on the acquisition Jean-François Decaux, co-CEO of JCDecaux, said: “Berlin is Europe’s second largest city and a partner we had been wanting to include in our network for over 20 years. We are delighted to be able to modernize the world’s largest network of advertising columns as well as advertising in the city’s public transport system, including the Berlin metro. Following this transaction , JCDecaux will, for the first time, be able to offer premium quality advertising space in the principal German cities such as Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Munich, Stuttgart, Leipzig, Dresden, Nuremberg or Düsseldorf… something that our domestic and international advertisers have long awaited.”